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By Marcy Jones and Kaitlyn Burzin

Published: Oct. 10, 2024 at 4:57 AM EDT|Updated: 23 hours ago

WATERFORD, CT (WFSB) - The Groton Bowling Club collected donations to help victims of the hurricanes in Florida.

Last week, it made a Facebook post about its effort to fill a 53-foot tractor-trailer with supplies for victims.

Local businesses, such as Filomena’s Restaurant, stepped up to help.

“It’s challenging times,“ said Mike Buscetto, owner, Filomena’s Restaurant. “Things are expensive. There are seniors who didn’t plan for this, this inflation, and the cost of goods and we try to help them.”

By Thursday morning, the bowling club had five tractor-trailers packed full of compressors, emergency kits, batteries, blankets, snacks, diapers, and coloring books for children who lost everything.

“There were people who came two or three times per day, with different truckloads of stuff,” Buscetto said. “‘Oh you need water?’ ‘Oh you need boots?’ ‘We’ll be right back.' So to see that energy, it snowballed, kept growing, and worked out perfectly.”

Organizers said people traveled far to help, with hundreds coming from other states, such as Rhode Island.

“We left town because the restaurant that I work at got completely flooded I couldn’t work, and my wife works remotely, so she couldn’t work unless we left town and then it wasn’t until then that we saw how much of a mess it was," said Rudy, an Ashevalle, NC resident.

The effort started when five local business owners talked about how they wanted to help.

“To see the community gather with no politics, everybody was just for the cause and just because they know that people are struggling down there,” Buscetto said.

“Mike’s the kind of guy that draws those kinds of people that want to help, so he always does what’s best for the community," said Chris Ard of Waterford.

The business owners have already started discussing how to help victims of Hurricane Milton.

Those interested in assisting in their efforts can contact them at grotonbowling@gmail.com.

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