PASS-A-GRILLE BEACH, Fla. — When damage and debris lands on your doorstep after a storm, what do you do?

For one Bay area woman the answer was simple, help thy neighbor. But she didn’t stop there.

Maggie Leblanc has owned the Coconut Inn for the last 15 years. She still can’t wrap her head around the damage they suffered on Pass-a-Grille Beach.

“It was a shock to the system and to see all of that hard work just underwater and everything completely drenched. You could see the water line you know, where the water came up,” Leblanc said.

The rooms on the first floor of her two story inn are all damaged. Each room she says she worked so hard to curate for her customers.

“When you have a business like this it’s a 24-7 job. You work really hard to make it as comfortable for guests as possible. You have to kind of put yourself in their place,” she said.

Leblanc has formed quite the habit of putting others ahead of herself. This time was no different.

“We just really felt their pain and the business owner who her home got flooded and her business and you know there’s so much pain to go around and nobody’s pain is worse than others but I felt more fortunate than some of them,” she said.

So, she teamed up with business owners and came up with a plan.

“Pretty soon after we got back from Milton, I set up the go fund me and we’ve been able to raise about $27,000,” said Leblanc.

She reached out employees from Grace Restaurant, Red White and Booze and the Seahorse who were out of work and in need of money right away.

“I reached out to a couple of businesses, the restaurants, and said are there any staff members you’d like to nominate that you know are in dire need,” she said. “So, they gave me a few names at each place. So, we were able to help them with a thousand-dollar gift.”

For those with a greater need, she was able to offer more thanks to the generous donations of strangers and friends.

People like Eglantine Leguerchois and her husband Luca got a little more out of the pot of money.

“We knew that it would be worse because we live close to here so ours was already flooded. We saw the water very high so we knew that it would be awful, but we never imagined the sand would be, all pass-a-grill was part of the beach,” Leguerchois said.

Their sandwich shop was able to open back up. But on the corner, their ice cream shop wasn’t as lucky.

You can barely make out that this was an ice cream shop. With the unplugged equipment, mattresses and suitcases moved here from their home that was also destroyed.

“Actually we don’t want to think about the past because if you think about the past, it’s too hard to, you cannot progress,” Leguerchois said.

The couple is living in a hotel with their four children while they try to pick up the pieces and rebuild. It’s an experience they could’ve never prepared for when they moved from France six years ago-but it’s one they’re thankful for in a way because of the outpouring of support.

For Leblanc that’s what makes this all worth it.

“You know when you’re going thorough something like this, it’s almost like a privilege to help other people that weren’t even asking for help,” Leblanc said.

It’s a practice she plans to continue, hoping it will catch on with others.

The Coconut Inn is partially open. Their upstairs rooms didn’t suffer any damage, and the grounds have been cleared. They encourage visitors to check online about openings before heading out to your favorite spots on the beach.