HUDSON, Fla. — At 101 years old, Fred "Fritz" Kojzar tends his garden a few hours every day at his home in Hudson.
"I'm the flower man," Kojzar said. "I put in 2 or 3 hours every day, you know, keep me active, you know."
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But behind the blooms, Kojzar is still recovering from Hurricane Helene. His floors remain uneven and damaged, and more repairs are needed.
Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano has been closely involved in Kojzar's recovery.
"My first step in the house is like I'm going, we got a problem," Mariano said.
The community rallied behind Kojzar. His favorite watering hole and karaoke spot, VFW Post 4412, raised money for him and others affected by the storm.
"It is, it's really a home feeling. It has been for a long time and everybody just came together and we raised $16,000 for the community as homes were gutted and the trash piled up," VFW member Katie Embry said.
"If you could sum up this community, this VFW, what does it mean? " Tampa Bay 28 reporter Michael Paluska asked Embry.
"Home. It is really a home feeling,” she said.
As thousands of permits began rolling in after the storm, Mariano said the permitting process became one of the biggest challenges.
"Permitting is the biggest fear. That's always one of the biggest things I've tried to work on to try to improve that. But sometimes you can stuck with one thing can hold the project back," Mariano said.
A new artificial intelligence tool may help change that. Sabrina Dugan, managing partner of SwiftGov, said her company's AI software is already in use in Hernando County, and because of early success there, Pasco County recently came on board.
The software is built around state, local, and federal regulations, allowing it to process large volumes of paperwork at speeds that outpace manual review. Dugan said the results are already dramatic.
"A lot of people, they're stuck in a permitting review cycle. It's supposed to be around 30 days for a residential permit. Sometimes they end up 45 days, 132 days, and now permits are being processed in minutes for staff, then takes that, reviews the results, and then gives the results back to the applicant," Dugan said.
Mariano said the goal is to make sure Kojzar's home remains livable every step of the way.
"Can't do enough. Can't do enough for him. Him and his brother, just great, great guys," Mariano said.
Kojzar's late brother Frank also lived in the home, which Kojzar has called home for 30 years. During the storm, floodwater rose and pushed through the doors.
Beyond the hurricane, Kojzar carries memories of a far older battle. The proud Navy veteran was at Omaha Beach on D-Day. He rarely speaks about it, but he shared what he witnessed.
"There's a lot, a lot of commotion. A lot of, a lot of noise, you know. The landing craft, they had a lot of guys on it. Some of them drowned right in that spot there. Some of them were lucky. Well, you know, the army had all them packs on it, you know, you try to swim in," Kojzar said.
"With a pack on your back, you can't make it, you know, you gotta go go down," Kojzar said.
He watched soldiers drown and could do nothing to help.
"Oh yeah, we took a, we, we couldn't do nothing. I couldn't. I looked, I, I couldn't jump in and save them. Well, there was a lot of Germans on the, on the beach, you know, had to chase them the hell out of there, you know," Kojzar said.
Decades later, those memories still surface.
"Uh, sometimes, you know. You know, think about things like that. You just, you know, keep on going, that's all, you know, what else can you do?" Kojzar said.
Mariano said that drive is evident every day.
"I see it all the time, even, even with his brother. Death, he says, What am I doing next? What's coming up next, etc. and that drive has to be just inherent in why this man has lived 101 years so strongly, so well, and just gone through life," Mariano said.
Fritz Kojzar — D-Day survivor, gardener, karaoke regular — is still going.
This story was reported on-air by Michael Paluska and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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