North Texas youth travel to Florida to help with hurricane aftermath

Three teenagers from North Texas traveled to Florida to help those struggling with the aftermath of recent hurricanes.

Brett Chasteen, JP Sims and Josh Damian raised money on social media and drove to hurricane-ravaged Central Florida to roll up their sleeves and help with the recovery effort. While in Florida, they cut down trees, removed debris, distributed water and more.

“No fee. We’re just here to help. They were beyond happy that we did this and so blessed that we wanted to help them,” Sims said.

A woman’s home was hit by a massive tree fall during a tornado.

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“You could tell she was overwhelmed and said it was just annoying. She couldn’t go to bed because she literally knew there was a tree on top of her house. It was also a huge tree, about 25cm, maybe 30cm in diameter. “That was pretty big,” Chasteen said.

The three 18-year-olds managed to cut down and remove a sufficient portion of the tree.

“I just saw the joy that people felt when we helped them. Some days we would go door to door or just walk and see what people needed,” Sims said.

The three friends are no strangers to work. Each runs their own small business doing hands-on work in the Burleson and Granbury area.

“Me and Josh were walking down the street helping the lady and an older man put together a generator they had just bought, a really heavy generator. It would have taken hours to put together, and we were able to help them,” Sims said.

After observing the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the group decided to target the hard-hit area of ​​Sarasota County, where thousands were without power, flooded and sustained extensive damage.

“It’s been a blessing that God has allowed us to come here and do that with each of our individual businesses and all of our abilities to do that and help others, just give back. “Giving something back to the people,” Sims said.

The 18-year-olds are now on their way back home.