Pine Island Florida Hurricane Recovery

My name is Rick Capozzi and I'd like to ask for your support in this mission. My buddy, Fred Frye, and I are raising funds to personally go help my younger brother's widow and her neighbors in Saint James City, on Pine Island in Florida with hurricane recovery.

From the time my brother, Rod was in 8th grade he wanted to move to Florida. He married his high school sweetheart, Chris Duffee, when they were in college. After earning their degrees off to Florida they went. In short order, they bought a piece of ground and built their dream house that would hopefully sustain the winds of a hurricane. Sadly, an enlarged heart combined with a water sports injury triggered a heart attack that took his life in that house at the young age of 26 (31 years ago). His wife years later remarried and is still in that house that has weathered numerous hurricanes since then.

To add to the story, my good friend, Fred Frye, lost his younger brother, Bob, to a form of cancer months before my brother died. Bob, Rod & Chris were all good friends.

In memory of our brothers, Fred and I are leaving our boyhood hometown of Franklin, PA from Thursday, November 3 through Saturday, November 12 to assist Chris and her husband AND their Pine Island neighbors with storm recovery.

In addition to taking down much-needed cleanup supplies and clean drinking water, we will have 4 chainsaws and will be cutting and clearing a lot of debris that remains spread all over the area. We would like to take some building supplies and gift cards for them to be able to get what they need to make necessary repairs. A news article on how hard this specific area was hit can be found at https://bit.ly/3zqOaXq

The bridge to the island has been reopened and power is back on at their house which was part of the original delay in us going down. We have separately raised funds to cover the travel expense of making the 2,500 miles (roundtrip) so funds donated here can be focused directly on the needs of the people on Pine Island. Any financial help as well as prayers would be appreciated.

Thank you for your consideration. Please help as you are able.

Rick and Fred