PINELLAS COUNTY — More than six months after Hurricane Helene devastated our coastal neighborhoods, people are still rebuilding.
It’s affected several businesses too, still struggling in the aftermath.
That’s why Wade Swikle, owner of 2 College Brothers Moving and Storage, wants to help.
WATCH: Hometown Titan Retreat offering free tickets to business owners affected by hurricanes
He’s also the co-founder of the Hometown Titan Retreat. It’s basically a summit for business owners to network and grow.
“We’ve done a lot of these events for the moving industry specifically in the past,” said Wade Swikle.
But in the wake of last year’s hurricanes, this year, he’s expanding it.
“We’re really just trying to bring everybody together, give businesses exposure and the opportunity to make connections with referral partners and clientele and vendors in order to lift up the entire Tampa Bay Area,” said Swikle.
He told ABC Action News that he’s passionate about giving back, especially to people who are still struggling to return to normal.
“So a lot of people still haven’t been able to move into their homes,” said Swikle.
Local business owner Regan Weiss is one of those people.
“I personally was affected like thousands of others, and I will tell you, six months out of your home takes a toll on you, takes a toll on your family, takes a toll on your mental health, “ said Weiss.
Weiss will be speaking at the retreat and wants to highlight an important issue he’s been seeing.
“I see a lot of contractors taking advantage of individuals, and I think that’s wrong,” said Weiss.
That’s part of what they want to help local business owners with during the retreat: avoiding scams and partnering with reputable companies to help them rebuild.
They also want to encourage the entire local business community to come together and help as much as they can.
“We’re going to teach these contractors and realtors, all of them, like let’s just market with transparency. Let’s help out our community where we can,” said Weiss.
Anyone in the small business community is welcome.
Swikle is giving away a limited number of free tickets to the retreat to business owners affected by the hurricanes.
The retreat is Thursday, April 10, at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.
To see if you qualify for a free ticket, call 813-778-7349.
“We don’t want the money to be the issue, the cost of the ticket to be the issue to show up to this event. We’ve got room for 2,000 people at it. We’ll have a trade show in the lobby where small businesses can demonstrate their services and get some exposure. So if the tickets are an issue, reach out to us directly. We’ll see what we can do to hook you up,” said Swikle.
