LANCASTER, Pa. — Water is being offloaded for hurricane victims, courtesy of Will Prather.
“There are definitely monumental recovery efforts going on," said Prather.
Prather is the owner and executive producer of two theaters. One is the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater in Fort Meyers, Florida. The second is the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater in Lancaster.
Despite being in the direct path of Hurricane Ian, the Broadway Palm made it through in one piece.
“We had some minor damage, we regained power fairly early on," said Prather. "In fact, the day after the storm we regained power.”
Once the storm passed, Prather began focusing on relief efforts by providing water, ice, and hot food to Fort Meyer residents.
“Our community is hurting right now," said Prather. "There are a lot of people who are in need, and we’re just helping out in a small way.”
“[Hearing] the devastation of 120 employees, hearing their stories about losing their homes, their cars, and nearly being swept away. We want to help," said Erika Wolf.
Wolf, with Dutch Apple Theater, says a number of employees made their way down to Fort Meyers to help out with relief efforts. She adds that the theater started at-will donations at every show this week, with customers gladly chipping in.
“We started yesterday with a Wednesday matinee, and from yesterday to today it’s been mindboggling how much people are giving," said Wolf.
Prather says he views the community service as an important part of his company’s vision.
“It’s small things like that are making an impact," said Prather.
The Broadway Palm Theater is expected to reopen on October 14th.