YANKEETOWN, FL (352today.com) – An elderly person with tears streaming down their face as they search their home for a piece of the past; the place they once knew has changed completely due to Hurricane Helene.

This scene is commonplace in a small Levy County town along the Gulf of Mexico. Older residents on fixed incomes have had their worlds devastated by a Category 4 hurricane, but it’s the aftermath that has been more troubling.

Their homes have become unrecognizable and, in many cases, uninhabitable due to nearly seven feet of water, leaving residents feeling hopeless and not knowing where to turn.

However, caring community members are working to raise awareness by getting the word out to have more volunteers help those in need, helping to restore faith so people can resume a more normal way of life.

A passion with a purpose

Katie Jo Davis, a former U.S. Army special operations member and fishing guide, lives on the final canal leading to the Gulf of Mexico in Yankeetown. She has led a small group of volunteers who have paused their own lives to assist their neighbors. They recognize the challenges faced by those who are older and dealing with significant changes in their lives.

“Hurricane Helene, we got the worst of it,” says Davis. “The water was up to some of the ceilings in the first level homes on my road. As you move up Yankeetown, it’s not a large area. We don’t have a grocery store; a red light and we only have one restaurant. The majority of our residents are elderly or retired. Many of them don’t have insurance because it’s so expensive and this is the worst flood that they’ve ever seen during their lifetimes in Yankeetown.”

It’s more than just a call for more volunteers; it’s a call to action to assist those who are less fortunate to help them rebuild their lives. The problem is that the recent storms have reduced the number of available volunteers, as many are busy helping their neighbors or dealing with their own challenges caused by the weather.

“With Hurricane Idalia, we got four feet. With Helene we got nearly seven,” Davis says. “There still isn’t help in Yankeetown. There still aren’t any volunteers. We haven’t received any help from churches in the area. I understand because this hurricane was so disastrous and catastrophic and impacted so much of the southeast United States. And many of the volunteers that came into help during Idalia were affected this time. A lot of them came from Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. People still have to go back to work because they have to survive.”

Davis met with a 90-year-old man and his wife on the morning of October 11. Their house is still messy and covered in mud. Davis is just one person and has been working with a team of five to help fix the problem.

“We have a very small team of volunteers who have nothing, as well,” says an emotional Davis. “Instead of trying to go back to work, they came and helped. I shouldn’t be taking any of the credit. My little crew, they did most of the hard work. We had a young guy about 16. He’s hard working. We had retired seniors coming in packing up knick-knacks and trying to save those things that we could save. These are people that have literally nothing but the clothes on their back.”

Providing a voice 

The area is still in need of dire help as it wrestles with what seems like an insurmountable job. People are dealing with the disbelief and trauma that has come about as result of the storm, trying to understand why it happened to them, leaving some in feeling hopeless.

Davis says, “My little crew pretty much disbanded. They’re trying to go back to work, or they have school.”  She mentions that she gets a volunteer every now and then, but right now she’s the only one helping.

Davis runs KD Outdoors Fishing Charters as a fishing guide. She says that she felt guilty because she couldn’t return to work with others who were struggling in their lives. The weather was beautiful before Hurricane Milton came bearing down on Florida, but Davis didn’t realize Milton was heading toward the gulf coast.

“I kind of kicked myself in the butt a little bit for not going to do my charters because I still have bills to pay,” says Davis. “Luckily for me, I have a handful of really great clients that knew I had to cancel my trips, and they have helped a little bit where they can so I can help these people get some of the necessities that they need.”

A 90-year-old Vietnam veteran and his wife are among those in need. He only had a pair of borrowed Nike slides on his feet, according to Davis.

“All of their stuff floated away,” Davis says, clearly upset. “All their shoes and everything. Luckily, I was able to get them a couple of pairs of shoes where he wasn’t slipping, sliding and falling everywhere. I feel like I need to be a voice to let people know that there was no help coming.”

Help from the Panhandle

The first batch of supplies she got was from another fishing guide in Destin. He loaded up a trailer and drove more than four hours to Yankeetown. Soon after, something happened that boosted everyone’s spirits.

“We unloaded those things. They brought a lot of the necessities that the residents needed,” says Davis. “He is with Going Coastal TV. Five days later, they called me and told me there was a hotel that was going to throw 60 rooms of mattresses and box springs away that day. I called Dunnellon and found a storage unit big enough to hold all of these mattresses and box springs so that in the next month or so, we can get them beds and mattresses because those are very expensive and hard to come by. They are all nice and clean.”

The trailer departed from Destin around midnight and arrived in Dunnellon at around 9 a.m. There, Davis and a small team unloaded around 26 mattresses and box springs. These will be given to elderly individuals and families with children who urgently need them or lack insurance to replace their damaged items.

A husband-and-wife team, known for getting bait for bait shops, was among those assisting Davis. Davis has been working with Yankeetown leaders to coordinate creating volunteer teams, but she says that usually only one or two people are available.

Many residents have struggled with having enough fuel, making it difficult for them to drive to doctors’ appointments. They have also faced challenges in getting enough food. The Salvation Army had been providing hot meals after Helene, but sometimes the smaller towns don’t receive as much attention, according to Davis.

“I have to keep my little efforts here in Yankeetown,” David adds. “These are my neighbors, and I can’t just let them hang out to dry.”

Yankeetown Fire Chief Kelly Salter is now coordinating the volunteers for the area. She can be reached at 941.592.9791.