Please help Barbara Keenan after loss of her home

My name is Michael Keenan and on behalf of my brothers and sisters we are trying to help my mom after the devastating loss of her entire home during hurricane Ian.

During the first indication of hurricane Ian impacting Ft Myers, I evacuated mom from her home. We went north to stay at my sister’s house in Port Charlotte to ride out the storm. The storm made landfall in Port Charlotte and we experienced loss of power and heavy rain and winds. We hoped against all odds that her house in Ft Myers would be spared from the impact. Watching the news we saw that the storm continued to intensify to a category 4 hurricane and was headed directly to the Ft Myers area. The forecast could not be worse. Hurricane Ian made a direct and devastating impact to Ft. Myers.

After the intense and prolonged storm had passed we headed back to FT Myers and prayed things would be OK. That was not the case. I drove through water, downed power lines, and through massive amounts of debris. I parked 1 street over to spare mom the sight of what I thought it could be. As I walked to her street and started to see the damage a sickening feeling came over me as I saw her house - belongings and future retirement laid in a pile of collapsed ruins. Flood waters inside her home reached over 5 feet and ruined just about everything that was not already crushed by the collapsed roof. It is now a total un-repairable loss.

I now had to walk back to the car slowly trying hard to find the right words to explain the devastation that I saw. A conversation a son can hardly find the words to tell his mom.

But now it’s time to heal. Over the next few days I was able to rescue some important things from mom's life. Her dad’s Coast Guard medals, a Christmas gift made by her mom years ago, and family pictures as well as nom's beloved quilts she was sewing for her children and grandchildren. I was able to save some important life-time memories that will make her feel good to have.

My mom spent a lifetime caring about and looking after family and friends and now she needs our help to get her through this unbelievable loss. She is a strong woman and I know she will be ok with our help.

With your kind donations and prayers would you please consider helping her get back on her feet and start healing from the loss of her loved home? Rest assured you can definitely make an impact on her life as we move forward to meet her immediate needs of food, clothing, medicine and finding a way to get her into a new home or senior living.

Thank you so much to all her family, friends and strangers that are reaching out to her in her time of need. We can do it!

Please help us out by sharing with your friends and family.

Thanks for paying it forward.