Volunteers with the Global Empowerment Movement were hard at work in preparation for the potential devastation of Hurricane Milton. Just a few weeks after GEM sent truckloads of supplies and goods to the west coast of Florida, Milton’s impending arrival caused them to step up once again to help the communities that will be impacted. “Here we are again, in this very horrendous situation,” said Michael Capponi, the founder and CEO of GEM, who took to the stand only a few weeks after gathering supplies for Hurricane Helene. “Just since Hurricane Helene, I think we’ve already sent 30 full size trucks with over a million and a half dollars worth of, you know, very important supplies.” Now there is more on the way, and not just from GEM. Other local organizations are also packing supplies to send to people in need. In Broward County, Feeding South Florida sent semi trucks packed with water, food, MRE’s and diapers. “We’re worried about our neighbors,” said Paco Velez, the President and CEO of Feeding South Florida. “We’re worried about our sister food banks in Tampa and Sarasota and in Harry Chapin in Fort Myers. So we’re just planning and preparing as much as we can.” In Homestead, Farm Share food bank packed up pallets of supplies to stage near the impacted areas. “Our focus is the first 10 to 15 days after a storm makes landfall, we want to make sure that we have that food in there as a first responder,” said Stephen Shelley, CEO of Farm Share. “We try to help sustain those communities until the long term recovery units set up.” People will have items like food, water and toiletries in the short term. In the long term, organizations such as these will continue to help out. “So sometimes we’ll get large amounts of cleaning supplies that could fill up half this warehouse and then we’ll supply that to all the other local organizations so they could go out with their teams and their volunteers,” said Capponi. Then they’ll start sending rebuilding materials like drywall with the goal of getting people home. “So we’re very about, you know, just get people back to life as soon as possible,” said Capponi. All of these organizations take monetary donations. GEM accepts bulk items as well, and is looking for volunteers to help out with packing boxes.