CLEARWATER, Fla. — St. Pete Clearwater International Airport is used to air travel, but this week, they hit the road and drove down south to deliver supplies to their colleagues in the aviation industry.
Several PIE employees grabbed canned goods, bottles of water or even a propane tank on their way to work this week, and it’s all for a fellow airport in need.
“Punta Gorda Airport is a small airport like us," PIE Public Relations Director Michele Routh said. "So we said, ‘what can we do?'’’
Out of Punta Gorda's 100 employees, 25 of them suffered significant damage to their homes, while a few others lost everything.
“The airport is already up and running, they are still serving passengers and all of that, but some of the employees have nothing,” Routh said.
Routh, who is leading the donation efforts, said she’s been overwhelmed by how quickly the fundraiser took off.
“Even one of the cab drivers left stuff off at our visitor booth,” Routh said. “It feels very good to have the community come out and support this.”
Airport employees know how serious Ian was when it came to their industry. They evacuated for two days and re-routed all their airplanes to safer locations.
“It hits close to home because it could happen to us,” employee Michele Root said. "There are people who lost everything, it’s just heartbreaking."
Routh said she’s been in contact with Punta Gorda Airport and their employees cried due to how thankful they are for the donation drive.
“I know that they appreciate that people are taking the time to show them some support and pay attention to this,” Routh said.
The supplies were officially delivered on Tuesday.
