Students Respond to Neighbors in Need after Hurricane Milton

Students Respond to Neighbors in Need after Hurricane Milton
Posted on 10/23/2024
Students Respond to Neighbors in Need after Hurricane Milton

The day after Hurricane Milton blew through Southwest Florida, Gateway High School senior Adam Morgan was out surveying the damage. As president of his school’s National Honor Society, he was looking for ways he and his classmates could help. They would spend Friday and Saturday helping people clean up.

“After Hurricane Ian, I participated in hurricane cleanup with my church,” Morgan said. “This year, I wanted to do the same thing and I realized that we had people willing to come out and help, so I decided to start planning something. This is because I knew that if we could get a group of people together, we could make a difference in people's lives.”

Adam was able to pull together more than a dozen students from several clubs to volunteer. One of their first stops was the home of Katie Griffin off McGregor Boulevard. Her yard was full of debris and damaged items from a tornado that passed nearby.

“This car pulled up and the kids got out said can we help you?” Griffin recalled. “The help came at a time I really needed it. It really moved me. It would have taken me the entire weekend to do what they did in an hour.”
With more tornado damage off Daniel’s Parkway, another group cleaned up the area around Daniels Road Baptist Church and a home across the street. They picked up and piled up the debris for removal, bringing the homeowner to tears.

“Helping people in need post-hurricane made me feel good about our community because it showed that in times of crisis people will come together and help even if our own families were struggling,” said Gateway High School National Honor Society Vice President Colette Couillard. NHS officer Victoria Yohros added, “Knowing I made a difference I someone’s life after the hurricane Milton felt rewarding. It felt like being there helping was a privilege to witness.”

The students regrouped on Saturday to help out an old classmate of Adam’s in North Fort Myers. Their home had been flooded by several feet of storm surge. The students helped clear the trees branches in the backyard and remove water-logged furniture from the home.

“It felt nice to give back to the community and work towards helping others, as without our help some of cleanup would have taken much longer than it did,” said Gateway High School National Honor Society Member Reid Spicker. “Overall, I just feel like it is our duty to work towards providing help to anyone and everyone because we are all in this together.”

This kind of effort was seen across Lee County as students helped their neighbors, volunteered to serve their community, and cleaned up their schools. A group from Fort Myers Technical College even caught the attention of NBC-2 and was featured as a Story 2 Share for their support of a tornado damaged North Fort Myers neighborhood. The School District is proud of and thankful for all their hard work.