In this Heartware Story we head to Florida to hear the Sunshine Ace team came together after hurricane Ian. Hear how the owner, Michael Wynn, gave back to his community and employees after the devastation to their homes.

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So I've lived in Florida all my life my Family actually goes back to the 1880s Our family has faced countless Hurricanes but never one like this I mean we expected a storm we expected To wind I had water up into my trailer Almost a foot nobody expected that two Miles away It destroyed Fort Myers Beach Sanibel And Captiva Those places will never be the same all Of old Florida is gone because of Ian And most of my friends there lost their Homes So the build up for every hurricane is About the same every morning you look at The National Hurricane Center to say Where's it going when's it going to get There Basically Hurricane Charlie could fit Into the eye of hurricane Ian the size Of the storm and the projected intensity Is potentially a CAT5 storm absolutely Created some fear and concern on the Part of so many of the customers that we Serve when the hurricane comes through And maybe you don't have a roof you Don't have power everyone wants to Figure out how to restore that for their Family and we're a Lifeline so we get Open as soon as possible to provide People gas Power so they can get back to some sense Of normal life on a Wednesday

Uh Thursday morning was my scheduled Time to come in anyway but everybody was Already Here The store had opened without power and I Have to say I was truly humbled when I Came in less than 24 hours after Hurricane Ian passed to see our Associates they're ready to help Customers despite having damage to their Homes despite some actually having Standing water in their homes one of our Store managers Rich Starbuck he was here In the immediate aftermath of the storm Taking care of customers and then I Learned that he had had a lot of damage To his home I had six palm trees five of Them went down one hit the house total Of four Windows broke it was amazing to See the glass from the windows that Broke just flew from one side of the Room slashed through the drywall and Embedded itself on the other side of the Wall a lot of damage unfortunately not Only was my wife home alone to try to Deal with that stuff she had two dogs And I have a disabled son at some and so He doesn't deal well with this kind of Stuff it was a lot of stress to manage Him so once I learned that I told him Rich we're sending Ace handyman to your Home and you're not going to tell me no They were able to get a lot of of that Damage repaired in a short amount of

Time and he was definitely a hero to his Wife that day I'm pretty sure Michael Might have saved my marriage one of our Core values is care for your neighbor And we have so many examples of our Associates living that value through This storm but one of which was Laura And our Bonita Springs store I happened To answer the phone and the gentleman on The who was calling had told me that he Wanted to get some water to his elderly Parents his father is 92 and he has Dementia and he wanted to arrange a Range curbside pickup for them so I said Well how about if I just take it to him He said you gotta be kidding me and I Said no I'll just deliver the water he Came into town after eating to help them Relocate the first place he came was in Here to thank me one of the man's Responsibilities after a storm is to Identify where our Associates are and Make sure they're all safe so one of our Associates in our San Carlos location Unfortunately had significant damage to Her home I lost my porch carport and Two-thirds of my roof everything was Water damaged A lot of water damage ultimately Betty Was without a place to be able to live And she was taking care of her mother And they were in desperate need sunshine Was amazing as soon as they found out I Was displaced they called me and they

Got me a place to stay Again when we say we treat our people Like family my father offered up his Guest house as a place for Betty to be Able to stay while she and her family Found permanent housing I believe the Family was even out of town came into Town just to open it up and let me in And I would come home from work and they Had put food in the refrigerator for me I got an email from his mom one time to Make sure that my grandson had toys to Play with it made me feel like I was one Of his kids I just they gave me a bonus For working even though it's my job Sunshine's just awesome and then right About the time that Betty was leaving we Had another associate who had Significant flood damage to the place he Was renting and no longer had a place to Stay and so we moved him in and he's Staying there now I was speechless just Had no words to express my gratitude we Live our core values we treat our people Like family again Michael and sunshine Provided some you know funding and money To help with repairs they were up here With food for the team some charity Stuff where you know where people who Were displaced or didn't have stuff or Lost pillows clothes toiletries you name It and they were up here they treat us Like we're family being part of a Committed family means not only taking

Care of those that we serve but also Being there for each other in our Greatest time of need and that is Exactly what our team did in the Aftermath of Hurricane Ian this restored My faith in humanity a lot [Music]