(WSVN) - A South Florida couple is doing everything they can to help put back together the place they hoped to call home, before hurricane Irma struck.
“We’re expecting our son in November,” said Sam Steel. “We wanted to raise him in Key West. Great community down there.”
When Sam and Lauren Steel found out their family would be growing, they decided they wanted to raise their son in the Florida Keys.
But plans to move to the community where Lauren grew up, and the place they hoped to soon call ‘home,’ were put on hold after hurricane Irma devastated the island.
“We packed up our house,” said Steele. “Everything is in the U-Haul now.”
Their focus for now, until the arrival of their newborn, is on lending a helping hand to the people of the Keys.
“My whole family is in Key West,” said Lauren. “They’re all down there now and we’re also hoping to be able to help them, to help rebuild our community — get it back going strong.”
For now, the couple’s living room is temporarily filled with supplies they collected with the help of friends.
Over the weekend, Sam and his friends loaded up and headed for the Keys. “Jacob and I are going to drive down, deliver what we can, starting in Key Largo,” said Sam.
Once in the Keys, they also met with several pilots, who flew in supplies as part of ‘Caring for the Keys,’ a non-profit created by Sam’s friend, Jessica Haim.
“This island has been so great to not just me — my whole family,” said Sam, “and we just wanna pay the same amount of respect back that the island has given to us.”
Helping our neighbors is the South Florida way, but for Sam this is more personal. He and his wife want to help rebuild the place their son will one day call home.
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