Deputy spends vacation helping others in hurricane-ravaged Florida Keys

Orange County Deputy Michael Johnson helps first-responder families

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange County sheriff's Deputy Michael Johnson is this week's News 6 Getting Results Award winner. 

Johnson spent nearly two weeks in the Florida Keys helping families of first responders following Hurricane Irma. 

Johnson took vacation time to do it. 

"My brother is a firefighter down there, and I kept in contact with him when Irma hit, and he said they haven't been able to get to their homes in days because their main responsibility was to protect everyone else," Johnson said.

As soon as things were back to normal here in Central Florida and he could take some time off, Johnson packed his bags and a trailer full of supplies and headed south.

Johnson went to work immediately, posting his travels on Facebook. 

"Anything and everything," he said when asked what he did down south. "From tarping roofs to clearing paths for people to get to their doorways or stairs, I moved a lot of damaged and flooded things from people's downstairs."

He captured much of it in photos and video, posting it to social media, which caught the eye of follower James Copenhaver.

"It was, like, 10 reality shows based into one," Copenhaver said. "It was this updated saga every day of 'What is Mike Johnson going to do today in Key West?' It was amazing."

Johnson started with a list of families provided by his brother but met more people in need as he worked.

"You see them in tears, and there's no way you could say no," Johnson said. "Thankfully, the sheriff's office and my sergeant allowed me to go down there on my own time to do this and my squad-mates picked up my workload here. So, I thank them."

Johnson said much of the material he took with him was donated from friends, Facebook followers and big box stores in Central Florida.

"I was overwhelmed with the amount of donations that came in," he said.

Johnson is already making plans to return to help, but he said the real heroes are the people that helped fill his 25-foot trailer.

"Whoever else volunteered and whoever else donated, those are the true heroes: the people that donated the materials and the money to me so I could go down there and be able to do what I did," he said.

 


About the Author:

Paul is a Florida native who graduated from the University of Central Florida. As a multimedia journalist, Paul enjoys profiling the people and places that make Central Florida unique.

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