CAIRO, Ga. (WTXL) - The destruction left behind by Hurricane Michael left many stores and restaurants without power for days making it hard for people to get supplies and food.
This caused one grocery store in Cairo to go above and beyond when the community needed help.
Preparing for a hurricane is key, but in the sleepy town of Cairo, it didn't get the urgency that it deserved.
Natalie Morris, a Customer Service employee at Piggly Wiggly, said "it was chaos, it was a lot of people in need, we didn't prepare like we should have. We didn't know it would be that bad."
That's when Troy Singletary, the store Manager, decided to take action immediately.
"We were already preparing in case we needed to take care of our customers. We had a generator staged up. So we get a generator as quickly as we could and started taking care of our customers" said Singletary.
About 24 hours after Michael hit the Florida-Georgia line, Singletary and his employees opened the doors. It was 5 p.m. Thursday night and those doors stayed open for 24 hours because this Piggly Wiggly was the only store open on the North side of Cairo.
"It was like disaster over there but then this store was open and you came to reality and then you're like 'oh everything is not a disaster'. It made you feel good that it was actually open" said Piggly Wiggly customer Anthony Lora.
"It's about helping people, that's all it's about because believe me when I tell you I did not want to come to work but the only thing that made me come was knowing that people needed it" said Morris.
To Singletary, it was just a day that the community needed a little more help. "That's what we do here everyday, we take care of our customers. Our company, our biggest thing is outrageous customer service, we always take care of our customers every day, and this was just another time that we had to do a little bit more to take care of our customers" said Singletary.
But to his customers, it was a blessing beyond recognition.
Another customer Jimmy Cook said "It really was like a sanctuary, it's just a blessing to the community. I just think the world of them, I think they're really good people and it showed. When people are in need that's when they need help."
Singletary and his employees said it was nothing out of the ordinary for them to open their doors to the people of Cairo, proving that people can step up in a time of need.
