FORT MYERS, Fla. — “I’m gonna head out and just get people clean clothes,” said Rob Whyte, founder of the Fort Myers Brewing company.
Like so many others in Southwest Florida, Whyte is thinking of ways to help out the community.
After he saw the story of a woman on Fox 4, he felt inspired to make a mobile trailer that had washers and a dryer, “The last thing she said was I don’t even have clean clothes,” Whyte said with tears in his eyes.
Whyte already had a trailer that was used during Covid as a food truck. While they were gutting it for renovations, Hurricane Ian hit and it now had a new purpose, “I had the equipment, I had water heaters, tanks and access to water and I’m able to sanitize water,” But Whyte was still missing the key items.
On Thursday afternoon, Whyte along with friends were hooking up all the washers and dryers that they had received, after he made a Facebook post about what they needed to make the mobile unit happen.
Whyte says the community delivered, not just with appliances but with supplies as well, once he receives the last piece for the truck, he plans to drive through communities and offer his mobile washing unit.
“Going to places where houses are close and people can just come up and wash their clothes,” Whyte says he won’t be washing the clothes himself, but he’ll go wherever he’s needed.
While it may be a small gesture Whyte says some people now only have the clothes on their back and he’ll be by their side, like the community has been for him.
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