JUPITER, Fla. — The CEO of a South Florida hotel is helping to relocate families in the Bahamas who were displaced when Hurricane Dorian hit the islands as a Category 5 storm.
Nick Mastroianni, who runs the Harbourside Place in Jupiter, said Bahamian families have been relocated to Florida, with 80 people now sheltered in his Wyndham Grand Hotel, WPTV reported. Mastroianni said he has personally been flying planes to the islands to relocate families devastated by the storm.
“It was our happy place. We’ve been going there for years. It’s been a wonderful place to raise a family you know weekends, holidays," Mastroianni told the television station. "To see it the way it is today is just disturbing."
The rescue effort was spearheaded by the Mastroianni Family Foundation.
Mastroianni said he was able to land a plane in Marsh Harbour shortly after Dorian left the area.
"Now, we've saved about 13 families. We have 80 people here in the hotel. We've gotten 150 people to the U.S., and we will continue for the next week, two weeks, 10 days," Mastroianni told WPTV.
Mastroianni said he wants to try to get the evacuees' lives "back to normal," offering them food and lodging and money to buy new clothes, according to The Palm Beach Post.
The Wyndham Grand hosted a prayer service and luncheon Sunday for evacuees staying at the hotel, WPTV reported