29 October 2022 – MOVE-2 (John Ehresmann and David Sewell) have returned to Raleigh, NC.
26 October 2022 – Today, the MOVE-1 team drove from Richmond Hill GA to Raleigh to complete their Hurricane Ian. They will be cleaning up MOVE-1 for a trip to Charlotte on Saturday followed by trip to Laurel, MD the following week for talks at IEEE conferences.
Thank you to everyone that followed the trip and especially to those that support the MOVE program.
You Can Help
MOVE is funded by donations like yours. Your support is greatly appreciated. Please consider helping the MOVE Community Outreach program by donating to the cause.
25 October 2022 – MOVE-1 has been released from the Red Cross operation. Generally most cell towers are functional and thus limiting the need for our services. This morning the team left Fort Myers, FL and drove to Richmond Hill GA where they stopped for the night. The team expect to be in Raleigh, NC tomorrow afternoon.
24 October 2022 – Today, MOVE-2 started supporting the multi -gency Mega client shelter at a closed Publix grocery store North Fort Myers. They are providing wireless to the shelter residents, Red Cross workers and other first responders. The team will be setting up 2 charging stations for clients later today. Red Cross DST provided the team with a Starlink system to use on the truck which is working very well to increase the number of people they can help with Internet. A huge thank you goes out to the DST team in Fort Myers. They helped the team (a lot) to get things set up here. MOVE-2 will stay at the shelter 24/7.
22 October 2022 – MOVE left Pine Island today for an assignment in Fort Myers Beach. They had supported a Red Cross Aid Station where water and snacks were passed out. MOVE provided WiFi and charging capabilities to residents.
The damage was very bad in Matlacha. But the damage in Fort Myers Beach was even worse.
After they finished at the aid station they went to The Red Cross Disaster Relief Operations Headquarters (DRO-HQ) for Hurricane Ian operations where they got to see the DST team and meet some good friends.
Trucks are parked at HQ tonight for easier access to FMB.
21 October 2022 – Today MOVE spent the day at St James City base camp. They started the day when a crane came to move the boat near our trucks. After talking with the owner, the boat had been on the trailer 3 blocks from where it came to rest. It appeared to have minimal damage and was returned home on the trailer.
The team spent time discussing with the Red Cross the next location to be assigned. It looks like MOVE-2 will be assigned to Sanibel Island. MOVE-1 assignment is still being discussed.
20 October 2022 – MOVE-1: The day started with the team meeting an IEEE Life member and his wife. So glad they stopped by to meet us. The team repeated their trip to the north end of Pine Island where they continued to provide internet for the underserved community. Pine Island has power for most homes that are livable and communications towers continue to improve.
19 October 2022 – This morning we had the generator oil changed in both trucks. This is regular maintenance. David Wright, maintenance team lead, arranged for it to be done onsite. Big thank you to David. MOVE returned to the same place today and continued to provide internet to the underserved community there. Jay and Grayson both attended meetings and got some some work done while providing services. Tonight they will attend another MOVE Team meeting for the Radio Club.
18 October 2022 – Another day at the north end of Pine Island. The team continued to internet support an underserved community that suffered significant damage to property.
Several teenage boys stopped by and asked to use the laptop. We set it up and they were checking their school grades. A’s and B’s 
. It is great to see they were all bilingual and concerned about school grades. Today was worth it for that alone.
More disaster pictures. Debris everywhere. Some interesting locations for boats.
17 October 2022 – The MOVE-2 team had the day off today. MOVE-1: John Ehresmann just joined the team on this disaster and invited him to deploy along with them today. The team traveled with a 3 man crew to North Pine Island to an underserved community. There they provided internet and charging capability.
North Pine Island did not receive the terrible storm surge flooding that the south island did, but still has significant wind damage and poor internet coverage.
Two other organizations dropped off supplies to people in this neighborhood. The schools are closed so kids are still at home. Many schools had significant damage. Five very polite young men asked to check their email. The team was able to accommodate their requests. They had a great time and were very respectful.
A number of people took advantage of MOVE’s internet access and the team is expected back tomorrow at the same location.
Power is generally up for most customers in Florida. Still isolated areas without power that MOVE is focused on. Sanibel Island is still closed to access by residents due to the tremendous damage there.
16 October 2022 – Bad thunderstorms and high winds that rocked the trucks last night. This morning the MOVE team was told that a small tornado had gone though the site. Damage to tents and small objects, but no damage to equipment or MOVE trucks.
Power came on this morning for many including our facility. This reduced the number of people coming for services.
The team was getting ready to head home when they received a call for another mission on the north end of Pine Island. MOVE-1 will start tomorrow while MOVE-2 has a day off after 2 weeks of work.
15 October 2022 – MOVE-1: Today, we had a gentleman charge his e-bike from our truck. With so many people’s cars destroyed, many are using bikes or 4-wheeler ATVs to get around. Jay and Grayson continued to manage traffic at the distribution site. People continue to be thankful even while managing significant losses of personal property.
MOVE-2: John Ehresmann replaced Walt Burns on the team. Great to have a new MOVE member and experienced Red Coss volunteer deploy with the truck. He is paired up with David Sewell. Thank you to Walt as he returns to Colorado after a 2 week deployment.
More rain this evening. It has rained almost every day since we have been here. Still waiting for power to be restored in the community. Hot food, Ice, and showers were the most requested services.
We continue to have significant traffic on our MOVE networks.
14 October 2022 – MOVE-1: Many of the residents here have lost their homes, cars, and personal possessions. Many family members from up North are here to assist and local families are taking care of the elderly. Today was about helping people and less about technology.
With the truck setup and running 24/7, The team spent much of the day assisting each car entering the parking lot with directions on where to park and directing them to the services they needed.
The team continues to deliver internet and phone charging as power is still out on this part of Pine Island.
13 October 2022 – MOVE-1: The day started early today. After cold showers, the fuel truck came and filled both trucks as well as all the generators at the facility. Late morning the clouds came in and it rained really hard again (It continued to rain all afternoon).
Several cell towers came back online today greatly increasing our bandwidth. Hope to see power in the next few days.
Meeting lots of local residents today and listened to stories of how bad their homes were damaged. Was able to direct them to free food, ice, showers, and other supplies.
The community continues to come together to help everyone that lives here. Many volunteers are here to support their recovery. Residents continue to come to upload pictures and send forms to related insurance companies and appraisers.
12 October 2022 – MOVE-1: Busy day today as the team continued to support the residents of Pine Island, FL. Power crews worked all day (and really hard) near the team’s location installing poles, mounting transformers, and stringing cables.
MOVE-2 supported operations near the middle of the Island while MOVE-1 assisted at the distribution center. Grayson Randall helped direct traffic and answer questions about services available as people drove into the facility. Ice, showers, laundry, rest rooms, and Internet were top of list for most.
MOVE-1 was running all day and supported many people who needed to get access to internet services. They also charged many phones on their charging table. It was pretty busy most of the day. People needing things and so many dropping off things. This afternoon a truck pulled in with a pallet of ice shortly after our supply was depleted – Amazing how that works.
The community is still upbeat but starting to understand the magnitude of the hurricane damage. It is great to see the community sprit at work.
11 October 2022 – Today David and Walt took MOVE-2 to a Red Cross service site on Pine Island. The MOVE-1 team (Jay Diepenbrock and Grayson Randall) stayed at a distribution center in St James City where local people came for food, showers, rest facilities, and support, MOVE was able to support many with internet and phone charging facilities. This included assisting some with getting on the internet, getting phones to work, even assisting one individual with his Starlink setup. Many survival stories were shared while we continue to hear about those who were not as lucky.
The MOVE team is fortunate to have easy access to shower and facilities trailers. The ability to sleep in trucks with A/C is a luxury most do not have. There is still no power on the island and communications is spotty. Most homes were damaged and many are destroyed. Most people’s cars were destroyed in the storm surge and are nearly impossible to replace. It has been very hot and humid, but despite all of these challenges, everyone seems upbeat and positive.
It is such an honor to be able to assist those in need.
10 October 2022 – After a heavy rain last night, the MOVE-2 team started the day by repairing the “pop-up” canopies that had collapsed at their site. They provide shade for disaster relief responders during the hot afternoons. It was hot and very humid today after the rain, and the team kept an eye on volunteers so that they don’t overheat, encouraging them, as well as some clients, to take turns cooling off in the MOVE truck, which has excellent air conditioning. This evening, they finally met up with our MOVE-1 team.
The MOVE-1 team has finally completed their long journey east. They drove from Marianne, FL to St. James, FL today. It took almost 2.5 hours to go the last 6 miles onto Pine Island. Some of the road was badly damaged and construction crews had alternating one way traffic through. It was dark when they got to the Island but they could still see tremendous damage.
Tonight the MOVE-1 and MOVE-2 and shared a meal in the truck. they currently parked together at the First Baptist church. Tomorrow MOVE-2 will leave to support Red Cross operations and MOVE-1 will stay in place to provide internet and power to the volunteers working at the church.
9 October 2022 – The MOVE-2 started their day at St James Baptist Church on Pine Island before heading out to the Bokeelia Welcome Center. This site has an incredible group of response agencies (NGO’s) all coming together to help everyone on this island following Hurricane Ian.
The team supported the Red Cross team that distributes water, snacks, and other necessities to anyone that needs them, and provided power and free Wi-Fi to the responder team and to the public. The Red Cross shares the site with the World Central Kitchen who are providing hot meals.
Today, first responders were able to use MOVE-2 as both a cooling-off space as well as a meeting room for collaboration with Public Affairs staff.
The MOVE-1 team (Jay and Grayson) took a day of rest today after 4 days driving 1865 miles from San Diego, CA to Marianne, FL. The day included streaming church, doing laundry, and working with the leadership team to confirm their final destination. The day off also allows the team to reset their DOT hours that track how much they can drive (This will give us more flexibility to drive). Tomorrow They will head to Fort Myers area.
8 October 2022 – The MOVE-2 team (Walt Burns and David Sewell) continued to provide Internet and charging services to the hurricane clients on Pine Island. Walt and David had the opportunity to help with food and supply distribution for part of the day. There was great interest in MOVE-2 and the team gave informational tours of the truck.
The need for keeping cell phones operating is nearly as close to a lifeline as there is following a disaster of this magnitude. The team shared some IEEE USB charging packs. Finally, it was quite hot outside today and they were able to use MOVE-2 as a cooling center.
7 October 2022 – MOVE-1 continued east today. The day began with breakfast followed by a trip to Walmart (based on input from our team operating in Florida – Water, food, and supplies to be self sufficient for a few days).
The team then proceeded to Oklahoma City and south towards Dallas and ending the day in Longview, TX.
MOVE-2 – Walt Burns and David Sewell will be on Pine Island through Wednesday at least. Rather than traveling back and forth to Fort Myers. A fire captain from Corpus Christi supporting disaster medical introduced the team to a local pastor on Pine Island who lost his house and whose church was totally flooded. The pastor and his church were generous enough to let the church parking lot be used for shower, bathroom, and laundry trailers. The church has no Internet or power, therefore MOVE-2 is staying in the church parking lot tonight providing Internet and possibly power.
6 October 2022 – The MOVE-2 supported Red Cross, other agencies, and the Heights Community Center and Education Center in Fort Myers today. The relief workers, agencies and clients are benefiting from being able to access resources on the Internet (these sites are referred to as POP(Point of Presence) sites).
The MOVE-1 team is continuing its trek east and travelled from Winslow, AZ to Amarillo, TX (with a stop for lunch in Albuquerque, NM). Another day of driving lies ahead tomorrow.
5 October 2022 – Today, the MOVE-1 team had breakfast at 6, inspected the truck, and headed east from San Diego towards Florida. They drove steady all day and ended in Winslow Arizona. the team maintained regular radio contact with the MOVE support teams today (The deployment team is able to communicate with our support teams anywhere in the world – very cool!)
4 October 2022 – Today the MOVE-2 team traveled about 45 minutes from the Ft Myers headquarters to Punta Gorda, FL. Here they are supporting a pop-up relief center.. The team (Walt Burns and David Sewell) provided wireless internet access took turns helping with many of the tasks accomplished.
MOVE-1’s team (Grayson Randall and Jay Diepenbrock) flew to San Diego, CA today to pick up the MOVE-1 vehicle and transport it to Florida. After a good nights sleep, they will head east in the morning.
Special thanks to Bill Torre who picked the team up at the airport and took them to the hotel. Also, thanks to the West coast team for preparing MOVE-1 for it’s trip with a wash, fuel, and snacks for the trip.
3 October 2022 (Update 7:00 PM ET) – IEEE-USA’s MOVE-1 team (Jay Diepenbrock and Grayson Randall) will be flying to San Diego, CA tomorrow to pick up MOVE-1 and head East to Florida (tentatively Tampa). They expect to leave San Diego Wednesday, 5 October in the morning (PT).
The MOVE-2 team arrived in Fort Myers, FL this afternoon after a quick stop in Orlando (Red Cross Headquarters). The MOVE-2 team plans to provide connectivity to one of several pop-up relief centers tomorrow.
3 October 2022 – IEEE-USA’s MOVE-2 team is now on the road and headed to Fort Myers to start their on-site support of the disaster operation
2 October 2022 – Walt Burns (one of our newest drivers) and David H Sewell left from Raleigh Durham this morning and made it to Jacksonville, FL where they found a safe hotel to stay for the night. The team has received an assignment to help set up the new DRO headquarters in Fort Myers, FL in the morning.
29 September 2022 – MOVE has been requested to assist with American Red Cross operations in Florida. Initial plans are for the team (Walt Burns and David Sewell) to check in at the Orlando, FL headquarters before heading to Naples, FL.
You Can Help!
MOVE is funded by donations like yours. Your support is greatly appreciated. Please consider helping the MOVE Community Outreach program by donating to the cause.