Elderly Irma evacuees find a piece of home in Macon

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A group of elderly evacuees from St. Simons found a little piece of home right here in Middle Georgia. They stayed with assisted living residents in Macon.

“Macon is oddly enough a second home at this point,” said Marsh’s Edge executive director Roger Peden.

It wasn’t quite the beach view they were used to at Marsh’s Edge in St. Simons.

“Whether something’s by the beach or whether it’s in Middle Georgia, it’s very glamorous when its not a four foot or five foot storm surge and its very glamorous based on the people and the hearts,” Peden continued.

When elderly Irma evacuees were forced to leave the sand and sun for the second time in two years due to severe weather, Carlyle Place residents welcomed them with open arms.

“We’re fortunate and unfortunate at the same time that 11 months ago we did the same thing with Hurricane Matthew. We came up here and we were treated like royalty,” Peden said.

“We’re staying with a lovely lady our hostess in her beautiful home and she couldn’t have done more for us than she has,” Marsh’s Edge resident Ann Sanborn added.

But this situation isn’t an unfamiliar one to Carlyle Place residents Jack and Joanne Murphy.

“We’ve lost two homes to hurricanes so we’ve experience the same problems that they have,” said Jack Murphy.

So, housing Marsh’s Edge residents like Sanborn was something they were happy to do.

“Last year we were too late to sign up to have someone so we really wanted to be sure we did it this year,” said Joanne Murphy. “We felt we could be of help to them.”

Sanborn says leaving her home was difficult, but the hospitality she received at Carlyle’s Place made her feel at ease.

“It feels like we’ve come home and to have people go out of their way to do for me is just amazing.”

She just hopes one day she’ll be able to return the favor not as an evacuation, but in the form of a St. Simons style vacation.

Marsh’s Edge residents will be heading back to St. Simons on Friday. They were originally leaving on Thursday but decided to stay and extra day.