Hurricane Irma exploded across the Florida Keys. Many residents evacuated, only to return to devastation. Mobile homes are piled high on sides of U.S. Highway 1; useless refrigerators and household appliances are heaped up across the street. Damaged boats floating adrift must be hauled out of waterways.

Florida Keys residents are Americans though. They are rebuilding.

Bob Leone of Port St. Lucie, Florida is a part of the reconstruction process. He feeds the U.S. military which is in the Keys helping families make their homes habitable again.

Each day Bob appears for duty at 4AM to oversee the logistics of feeding 500 military personnel in Key West at the Trumbo Naval Station. Currently, the National Guard and U.S. Armyhave set up a base camp there. The camp runs strictly off of generators.

In all, Bob Leone expects to be 30 days in Key West.

Since 2005, Leone has worked with John Antonini as the COO of Logistics as an emergency food service provider to first-responders. He states, “I run the operation on a day-to-day basis. Antonini deals with all the supplies of food, water, gas, tents—and the list goes on.”

The feeding service team is 17 strong, with 11 to 12 staff working every day to put together breakfast, a boxed lunch to go, and an evening supper.

Before coming to Key West, Bob Leone and crew were stationed in Miami, at Miami Dade Community College, North, preparing 1000 to 2500 meals daily for FPL line workers who had come from all over the country to power Florida back up.

After 10 days in Miami, the call came in for the Antonini team to move to Key West.

Leone operates his team’s work out of two tractor-trailers. The first is a 55 foot unit built especially for first-responder meal provision, complete with convection ovens, preparation tables, an ice machine and coffee maker. It too operates on a generator. From arrival to being fully operational is only two hours.

The second tractor-trailer is filled with equipment. It must be unloaded, pressure washed, and bleached, and will serve as the sub truck where boxed lunches are prepared.

As COO of Logistics, Bob says, “So much is going on; it’s like a whirlwind. I coordinate everybody getting stuff done. For example, at breakfast a team must be in the sub truck, building sandwiches. Also, at 8 AM, guys must be ready to unload the CISCO food supply truck and put it all away. I organize the work schedule so that everyone gets a rest. “

Sleep is precious. During the first few days at a site, Leone and crew only have about four hours each night, between 11PM and 3AM to close their eyes. Afterward, the time increases to six hours of rest. “It’s brutal,” Leone adds.

Meals aren’t tv dinners and a box of cornflakes for breakfast.

Leone serves hardy quality food. Breakfasts are two or three types of eggs, hash, sausage and gravy, cereals, fresh fruit, bacon and sausage. Evening suppers back at camp may be stuffed pork chops or Salisbury steak with potatoes, vegetables, salad and dessert with a daily changing menu.

Bob Leone’s daughter, Angela Leone Buzan, flew in from her home in San Diego, California to participate as well. This season she arrived just prior to Irma and was ready for immediate deployment. Angela took charge of the sub lunch truck, overseeing its operation for three weeks. Bob Leone states, “Serving with my daughter for three weeks has been the best part of this work.” Angela is 28, a professional Pilates instructor, she owns her own studio.

Bob Leone began working hurricanes and snow storms as a first-responder with John Antonini in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit. Their reputation is well known with FPL and the military as providers of quality delicious food and with the ability to feed thousands in days.

Leone prepares for this work. Each week he and Antonini inspect their tractor-trailer unit in storage, firing it up and making sure that all aspects of it are in working order.

Previously, Antonini was a caterer and Leone a chef. Together the two friends have made a tremendous difference in the aftermath of storms.

Leone states that he enjoys the appreciation of the folks he feeds.

He adds this, “You have no idea what goes on in a devastated spot. The news doesn’t give you the same vision. Be a first-responder, no matter the organization. “

You normally can find Bob Leone at Acquisition Experts in Stuart where he is a professional business broker, helping people buy and sell businesses, or at the Saturday night service of Morningside Church in Port St. Lucie. He and his team have abruptly given up their time and lifestyle to help feed others. He is indeed a Hometown Hero.

Hurricane Irma approached. Shelters opened and Indiantown residents sought safety at Warfield Elementary School. Deputy Sheriff Cristen Garcia was also assigned to be at Warfield, where she spent three days and nights monitoring the situation.

She conducted perimeter searches of the building during the storm, bringing in stragglers and oversaw indoor safety after the power went out.

The day after Irma, Deputy Garcia went off duty. Before leaving Warfield Elementary she took note of an elderly man sitting on the step with his small golden-haired dog. Deputy Garcia offered him a ride home, but the gentleman declined, stating that he was too far from home, adding that his truck wouldn’t start.

The evacuee was from Naples. Somehow he got lost and arrived in Indiantown. He had forgotten his medications and had health problems. Deputy Garcia phoned for an ambulance. The lost man insisted he would not go to the hospital. His concern was for his dog, Sammy.

That day, from 11AM until 9:30PM, Deputy Garcia acted as a Good Samaritan. Exhausted herself, she kept her promise to care for Sammy the dog, had the truck’s dead battery replaced, prepared food for the evacuee, made sure he went to Martin South’s Emergency Room, picked him up and got him into the Hidden Oaks Middle School shelter in Palm City for one last night before heading home.

Another Good Samaritan, a nurse from the emergency room, gave $80 for Deputy Garcia to fill the evacuee’s truck tank with gas and feed him on his return to Naples. Deputy Garcia drove his truck to the shelter, made sure Sammy the dog would be fed and then she went home.

During that day and the following one, Deputy Garcia kept in touch with the gentleman’s daughters, letting them know how and where their father was.

The following day, a chaplain with the Sheriff’s Office made sure the evacuee safely left for home.

Deputy Garcia went beyond the call of service.

A woman of deep faith, she states, “It costs us nothing to be nice; we need to care more about human life.”

Deputy Sheriff Garcia has also prevented a suicide and received a commendation for her act in 2012. I asked her why she became a sheriff deputy. She answered, “My whole life I’ve wanted to be in law enforcement. I want to help those who truly can’t help themselves.”

Deputy Sheriff Cristen Garcia is truly a hometown hero.

Her previous experience includes two and a half years on duty at the Martin County Jail.

Born in Tallahassee, Deputy Garcia now resides in Port St. Lucie. She is currently assigned to the Martin County Courthouse in Stuart as a bailiff.

Hometown Heroes