John DeMarco and his best friend John Thomas return from Gulf after providing aid to the Isles of Capri
“It was worse than I expected,” Mullica Hill resident John DeMarco said of the destruction he found after Hurricane Irma made a direct hit to the Isles of Capri, Fla., a place he and his wife Debbie call their second home. After weeks of tracking the storm’s path, self-proclaimed weather guru John said his instincts were telling him he needed to be there once the storm passed to help the islanders who may have lost everything.
John filled his custom motorcycle trailer with equipment and necessities to make an approximately 1,200-mile trip from New Jersey to the Florida islands, accompanied by his lifelong friend John Thomas. The two began their journey at 3 p.m. on Sept. 12, hauling 180 cases of water, three generators, three chain saws, blowers, extension cords, 10 15-gallon gas cans, a charging system for phones, battery packs, food and clothes.
John said obstacles began to appear as they approached Georgia, where state troopers were blocking exits to get gas. Near Florida, lines for fuel were long, stations were experiencing gas shortages and there were “cars everywhere on the road” where their gas tanks had run empty.
Approximately 80 miles from their destination, John and Thomas experienced their first flat tire. Fortunately, John was prepared with a spare, jack and ratchet gun. One mile farther, 79 miles from Capri, a second tire went flat. To alleviate the trailer’s weight, the two donated at least 20 cases of water to passing motorists.
After about 17 hours of travel, the two made it to John and Debbie’s eight-story solid concrete building they had bought seven years prior. According to John, it was one of the first buildings on the isles built to withstand a hurricane, and it did.
“The isles had taken a direct hit and looked like a war zone,” John said. “Nobody expected what they got, and they weren’t prepared. The ones that stayed quickly left.”
Upon arrival, John used red duct tape to spell “AID,” with a red cross on the side of his trailer. He said during the day, the space would become the air conditioning and phone-charging hub for local residents. After quickly realizing they needed more space, John’s son-in-law made a trip from Fort Myers with another generator and portable stand-up air conditioning unit, which transformed the first floor of John and Debbie’s building into a social room, complete with a refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker and more charging stations.
John said knowing the size of Capri, comprised of four islands, totaling 600 acres, connected by three small bridges, the isles would be “low on the list for help.”
“Marco, Naples, Fort Myers — big towns get big help,” John said. “We were one of the last to see power trucks. They all had power within two or three days; we had our power in seven or eight.”
According to John, many of the islands’ residents were elders who had been there since the 70s or 80s. Part of his mission while in Capri was to check on these locals, see their needs and assess their damages. He said he saw many of the “next generation” assisting in the islands’ cleanup, with neighbors selflessly helping each other before they helped themselves.
“Islanders who live there 12 months a year, they don’t leave; they just pick up and start helping out,” John said. “I saw a lot of young people new to the island up and down the street with their trucks loading up everybody else’s trash before they did their own.”
By Monday, John said, he saw the “most amazing, beautiful” sight; power trucks — a lot of them. At that point, it was time for them to make the trip back to Mullica Hill, but not before loaning their equipment to others in need.
“Sometimes people think they have a lot, but you don’t have anything until you help,” John said. “The response you get from somebody in need is unbelievable.”
As a retiree, John spends time volunteering as “Capt. John,” with Pennington nonprofit organization “Hope Loves Company.” There, he takes children who have parents living with ALS on charter boat trips, teaching them to fish. He compared his volunteer experiences to his trip to Florida.
“When I leave the kids, I’m a better person,” John said. “When I left Florida, I was a way better person. Every hug, every thank you from every islander who smiled; this trip, I felt like one of those kids.”
