John,Bettina,JC&Carter Koss -lost Home to storm

Hello I am Brian Schaffer, I live in Stuart Florida. Im a very good friend of John and Bettina Koss. John and I attended high school in New Jersey together as well as participated in sports together for many years while growing up. We both have relocated to Florida I live on the east coast as mentioned in Stuart, Florida. John and his family reside on the west coast where this deadly storm devastated many communities.

John and I still remain very close to this day. John, Bettina and family are currently staying with me at this time. They were directly impacted by Hurricane Ian as you probably have learned about on the news in recent days.

As you may or may not know the Koss family lives on Fort Myers Beach Florida. Their home was directly in the path of hurricane Ian that made landfall at Cayo Costa on Wednesday September 28th. Cayo Casta is in Lee County, in Southwest Florida. The eight-mile-long Cayo Costa is six miles north of the better known Captiva Island near Fort Myers Beach where the Koss family resides and works. The deadly Hurricane, originally forecasted to make landfall well north of the Koss’ home in the Tampa/St. Pete area of Florida, brought with it an approximate 15 foot storm surge. This along with the 140 plus mile per hour winds devastated all of Fort Meyers Beach and surrounding communities as well. The storm changed coarse and John & Bettina had approximately a half hour to make a very difficult decision to stay or evacuate. Thank goodness they did evacuate from the path of this deadly hurricane. Besides the clothes on everyone’s backs (including the children) they grabbed a few items that they were able to quickly and got out of the area to stay with a friend. The CAT 4 Hurricane, one of the largest and most powerful to ever hit the state of Florida, literally tore portions of the roof off of the home. It also blew out not only storm shutters but all the windows and doors of the home. Then, proceeded to fill the home with as much as an estimated 9 feet of water from the storm surge. Needless to say they are displaced and will be for sometime. The entire community of Fort Myers Beach has been reduced to what resembles an area that was hit by a bomb!! Both John & Bettina work on the island of Ft. Myers Beach and now not only lost their home but also the ability to earn a living for sometime. Depending on how quickly things are rebuilt, power is restored and the water & sewer services can be used by the community. The children’s schools are both in ruins as well. They are one of many families that have had just about everything taken from them. They are very fortunate they did evacuate because some who couldn’t or chose not to unfortunately did have ALL including their lives taken.

All the funds donated will go direct to the families needs during this time. Most immediate will be the needs of the children.

They must replace everything they once owned.

Please do what you can to help them out in this time of need.

Thank you very much!!

Brian Schaffer