ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A year is a long time, but sometimes it can feel like it isn’t.
People in St. Petersburg’s Shore Acres community can’t believe it’s been a year since Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida.
Hurricane Helene brought storm surge that this neighborhood had never seen before.
“You’re sad for… what was lost,” said Matt Thorn, who lives in Shore Acres.
The people there lost a lot.
In this past year, Thorn has made it his mission to help them.
“It’s been an evolution for me personally,” said Thorn.
Shortly after the storm, Thorn became a hub for people in his community who needed help, creating The Relief Market and Grille and running it out of the front yard of the house he was staying in.
He used mostly his own money to feed his neighbors and hand out supplies to those in need.
Over the past year, he has turned that idea into a non-profit.
“I’m taking this model of what I built with the relief market and grille, and I want to deploy that in all aspects,” said Thorn.
He’s making it mobile with a food truck, gifted to him by 3 Daughters, that he can take to other communities and people who need help.
“The goal is not also to just be food,” said Thorn.
He wants to not only be able to feed people but connect them to organizations that can provide long-term services.
“What I think I discovered with The Relief Market and Grille is that there are fantastic organizations in our community, but they are also not mobile. People have to come to them. I think having the food truck and kind of taking that model of what I built with The Relief Market and Grille, and bringing those services and needs to them while partnering with those organizations, allows us to meet people where they’re at. That I think is what can ultimately make a difference,” said Thorn.
While also becoming a place that people can trust and feel safe.
“That’s I think the part that I think that gets lost sometimes in disaster relief is that personal connection,” said Thorn.
His mission is to use this food truck beyond just natural disasters, in vulnerable communities year-round, to bring services to them.
“We’re not always going to have hurricanes, but it doesn’t mean that people don’t go through disasters, or trials and tribulations. We can also use this to… continue to kind of build these connections in the community, so if or when we do have to deal with something, it’s here,” said Thorn.
He also wants to continue the actual market while also finding a way to help other communities around the country.
“The market is going to stay. We’ll have an online portion. I connected with some other small business owners in other disaster-related areas who do like art or t-shirts or this and that, and I said, 'I’m going to showcase you. I would like to showcase you on my website.' Then the proceeds will go to their disaster-related areas,” said Thorn.
His motto: paying it forward.
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