OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Hours before Hurricane Ian hit Fort Myers, Florida, Charlsie Godwin turned up her phone’s ringer and changed the TV channel to display a radar image.
Her parents' hunkered down and prepared to withstand a Category 4 hurricane.
“I was glued to that,” Godwin said. “I watched this massive storm barrel toward my parents.”
Carlyle and Charlotte Gargis are Salvation Army area commanders in Fort Myers. They chose to stay in their community, knowing the need that would soon come.
“I think that speaks one to their love for people but also their faith in the Lord, knowing he would take care of them,” Charlsie Godwin said. “I’m really proud of them.”
But Godwin hasn’t been able to tell her parents that in her own words. While texts and photos can be sent, phone and video calls are difficult due to connectivity challenges.
“It was very intense, living text by text for a few days,” Godwin said. “Honestly, even today when I hear from them, it’s like, ‘Oh, thank you.’”
She shared photos of her parents' front yard before and after Hurricane Ian. The first shows her son watering an array of colorful flowers, with the help of his grandfather, and the second shows the road looking more like a river.
“To see those places that we have visited, basically just flattened, has been devastating to my heart even from here,” Godwin said. “And I’m not living through it.”
