‘God bless them’: Pair of men step in to help low-income and elderly residents following Helene

OLD TOWN, Fla. (WCJB)— Many residents are getting the help they need following Hurricane Helene after a pair of residents volunteered to help them remove trees from their yards.

Two men in Dixie County are helping residents who are physically unable or can’t afford to get trees in their yards removed. They have helped many people since Debby and Helene.

“We’ve got lots of debris, lots of big limbs, like small trees even,” said Tina Ellison, a resident of Old Town. “With us being disabled, we weren’t able to do the yard clean up.”

In addition to Ellison, they are also helping low-income and elderly people in need.

“It’s such a blessing to those of us who can’t do it, God bless, God bless them,” said Ellison.

This isn’t the first time JJ Polk has stepped in, he also immediately jumped in and helped people after Debby.

“It was only me for a while and I have a couple of buddies that do it here and there but there was never anybody doing it every day like me until he came along and now we’re actually still not doing what we could do with some equipment. If we had some equipment I’d be fast,” said JJ Polk.

His brother, Thomas Polk, volunteered to help him after Helene because he saw the need.

“Even if it’s nothing more than clearing out a way for them to get inside and get their stuff to get out or get in and start rebuilding, whatever it is that we can do, that’s what we’re doing to help people out,” said Thomas Polk.

JJ Polk says that even though his workload is backed up by Debby, he hasn’t forgotten about those he promised he’d help.

“If we can do it or we think we can do it, we definitely push ourselves. We’re the worst bosses that we’ve ever had,” said JJ Polk.

This has encouraged them to eventually open a for-profit business after they finish helping people in need.

“Being like the feet and hands of Jesus, helping people. I like doing that a lot,” said JJ Polk.

They will continue to help those who need it until there isn’t a desperate need anymore, which the Polks say could be a while.

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