As thousands of families have evacuated Florida fleeing from Hurricane Irma, one family was able to find refuge in Lubbock, Texas.
Jeff Sablich said he and six other family members left their mobile home in Fort Lauderdale unsure of where they were going to go next. He then got a call from an old navy buddy he hasn’t seen in nearly twenty years.
“My buddy Dallas had called me, and said ‘Your room is ready, what I have is yours, I don’t have much but it’s yours,'” Sablich said.
Describing each other as brothers, the two haven’t seen each other in all these years but stayed close. Sablich’s wife, Victoria Sablich said they loaded up the family with two dogs, two cats, and some extra gas left over from a generator.
“I don’t even know what all of those people on the roads did because there was no shelter, no lodging, no gas, so knowing we had someone we could turn to was just an incredible blessing.”
7th grader, Nichole Sablich said a lot of her friends stayed put in different parts of Florida, and she is very worried about them because some of them lost power.
“It was difficult because we had to make so many stops, and I was just trying to wrap my head around it all, wondering about my friends,” Sablich said.
The family said they are taking it one day at a time, and are even considering to permanently stay in Lubbock if they have to. If you would like to help the family in any way, you can email: vlee.reynolds@gmail.com
