DeLAND, Fla. – Hundreds across Central Florida are still picking up the pieces after Hurricane Milton swept through last week.
Volunteers in Volusia County hit the streets Saturday to help impacted residents clean up debris, remove trees, and to provide an extra set of hands.
Volusia County’s Community Assistance team used a database where residents could submit requests for their property and said they had 200 job requests for the dozens of volunteers who showed up.
“We pull up the local jobs in Volusia County and then we try to pair them with volunteers in our community who are capable of completing that skill,” said Community Assistance Director Carmen Hall.
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The volunteers came in from churches, colleges and nonprofit organizations, with some presenting simply as local residents. They picked a couple of jobs in areas all over the county.
“It could be a muck out, it could be just moving tree debris, it could be cutting up a tree or maybe their fence was damaged and they need help removing the fence,” Hall said.
News 6 followed volunteer Jeff Simpson around the DeLand area, where he tackled debris and helped people take it to their curb.
“This (job) had a 87-year-old lady. My mom is 88, so I was basically trying to help mom in a way, and then the other one had a young mom with a child, so I was trying to help her out,” he said.
Simpson said he was willing to tackle whatever project he could handle.
“Just helping people. As a Christian, we have to help our neighbors, but the big thing is, the hurricane hit a lot of people different. I was blessed to just lose power for 15 hours, but I saw there was a lot of need,” he said.
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