PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Once again, West Palm Beach Midas Auto owner Ron Katz is collecting goods for residents in Florida.
"It's just something I wanted to do to try to help the community," he said.
For the past seven years, Katz has stepped during a natural disaster, like Hurricane Idalia, to serve those in need.
"My attitude is God forbid this ends up happening to us, we would need help," he said. "So, why not try and help somebody else out."
Katz kicked off his new campaign this Wednesday morning.
"If we can raise food, blankets, generators, clothing new or used," he said, "they won't care, they just need something to get them back on their feet."
Many Palm Beach County organizations are stepping up in this time of need.
The Salvation Army is responding to Hurricane Idalia. From Palm Beach County alone, two emergency response units and other personnel left Tuesday to help those affected by the storm.
"We are in full activation mode," executive director Eric Roby said.
Roby works with the Red Cross. He said at the moment, they're focusing on long term shelter solutions for folks that don't have a place to go back to.
"We do expect as people are able to go back home to look to see what is the population that will need that long-term sheltering," he said.
Fire departments like Delray Beach, West Palm Beach to Boca Raton currently do not have donations stations set up.
Yet Boca Fire Rescue did deploy their emergency manager and one of their firefighters to the west coast of Florida.
Katz said typically the response is overwhelming.
"How can I not help people that are in need," he said.
