I was driving somewhere in the days after Hurricane Charley had come through, and the radio host was talking via cell phone to employees in a restaurant on International Drive.

He would ask them where they live, and each responded with various neighborhoods that were known to have been hit hard by the storm. I wondered to myself: “Why are they at work – they have their own place to clean up and worry about.”

In the next rounds of questioning, the radio host asked the same question I had just thought of, that being why they would go in to work after such a disaster when they were assuredly needed at home.

One after another, they replied with “they need me here”, or something to that nature. These folks felt a duty to come in and take care of folks visiting from out of town, who were pent up in their hotel rooms quite possibly scared out of their wits being in the middle of such a storm while on vacation.

Similar instances happened when neighbors would visit neighbors and offer some extra ice or water they may have had, or invite some over for a barbeque using up the last of the meat before it went bad. All too often, this was done between neighbors who had never really met each other.

Speaking of ice, it was more valuable than gold in the week following the Hurricane. Special thanks go out to Darden Restaurants, who owns Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Smoky Bones BBQ, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52. They managed to supply the area with truck after truck loaded with 35,000 pounds of ice each. That’s called stepping up to the plate, and their help was immeasurable.

As I’m sure you’re wondering, Disney was also on the scene, and although it was hard to find out what they did, I did manage to get a copy of the following press release:

“Hurricane Relief is Far Reaching for Disney Cast and Community In an effort to assist Central Florida families and Cast Members impacted by Hurricane Charley, The Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney World Co. have spent the past two weeks establishing and implementing programs to provide both physical and financial support. This support will be ongoing, but current efforts include:

Financial Support - DisneyHand, worldwide outreach for The Walt Disney Company quickly made a $100,000 donation to the American Red Cross and Heart of Florida United Way. Two Cast Member relief programs, Disney Operation Care and the Cast Member Hurricane Relief Fund, have been established and have distributed more than $2 million in payments up to $5,000 each to date.

Helping Hands - Cast Members have pitched in to distribute 120,000 pounds of free ice, hot meals, and manpower to fellow Cast Members in need of assistance.

Comforts of Home - For Cast Members whose homes were destroyed or uninhabitable, we provided more than 430 complimentary rooms at Walt Disney World Resort hotels. We also offered discounted rooms to another 1,700 Cast Members who lost power or other utilities. Shower and laundry facilities have also been offered.

Food Supplies - Walt Disney World Co. is conducting a property-wide food drive for the Second Harvest Food Bank. In addition, 600 meals were delivered last week to crews working on relief efforts throughout the community.

Community Help - Teams of workers armed with chain saws spent last week in various communities clearing debris. These crews were on loan from Buena Vista Construction Company and Walt Disney World Co. and were dispatched to remove trees blocking roadways. Their work allowed the City of Orlando and Orange County to get traffic flowing in several areas.

Childcare Solutions - Walt Disney World Resort day care centers usually reserved for guests were opened to Cast Members last week as schools across the area were closed due to storm damage. Several hundred Walt Disney World Cast Member children spent last week at one of the day care centers located inside the resort properties. The new Central Florida YMCA Family Centers at Walt Disney World also proved to be a great resource. The center, which opened on August 1 to serve the needs of the Cast went into overdrive providing back-up care for working parents who were unable to find last minute care options for their children.”

To be sure, many of the over 55,000 employees that work at Walt Disney World were badly hit themselves, but many returned to the Resort for the guest’s sake. As Corey had mentioned a couple of weeks ago, that is definitely the way Walt would have wanted, and it shows that the Disney spirit of hospitality is alive and well within many Cast Members.

As a nominee for the “bad idea in the current situation” award, Walt Disney World marketers reportedly placed an online ad from Walt Disney World targeted at locals, inviting those without power or water to come and have a fun day with the kids at the parks. Great idea, but there was one problem: there was no discount offered for the locals who might have wanted to do such a thing.

Not many locals would be willing to fork over full price while their home is damaged, sitting without power or water. This is in addition to the fact that many didn’t have cash available due to bank power outages and paychecks not cashed in time. Many that I heard speak about it thought it was like a slap in the face.

Disney CEO Michael Eisner managed to stop in and personally say thank you to a bunch of people at WDW after the storm as well, especially for those that were on property when the storm hit.

That was a nice gesture, but I hope he really shows his appreciation when it comes time to renegotiate the union contracts that have so far been elusive to come to a compromise. These folks deserve way more than what they currently earn, and this crisis proved it.

Thanks for stopping on by, and I’ll see you next week!

If you’d like to help out in this or other disasters, please contact your local Red Cross or United Way and ask them what they need.