Billy Joel, wife Alexis Roderick foundation donates $250,000 for Hurricane Ian recovery

An American music icon and his wife have stepped up to help Southwest Floridians rebuild after Hurricane Ian.

Billy Joel and Alexis Roderick, through their Joel Foundation, reached out to Lee County to find out how they could help residents and businesses throughout Southwest Florida recover from the powerful storm that struck Sept. 28.

The foundation this week announced it was donating $250,000 to the Lee County Strong Hurricane Ian Relief Fund, which provides relief and long-term recovery assistance to Southwest Florida residents recovering from the impacts of Ian.

Joel and Roderick were watching storm coverage unfold from their family's Palm Beach County home, she said.

They also braced for damage themselves, with numerous tornado warnings spawned from Ian.

“We felt it," Roderick said. “We were tracking it. We really thought we were totally going to avoid it. We didn’t think that we would feel any effect and that it would hit the coast as far south as it did."

Following Ian, Roderick said, their foundation reached out to Community Cooperative, the nonprofit that established the relief fund.

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“They’re incredibly generous and committed to helping Southwest Florida get back on its feet," said Community Cooperative CEO Stefanie Ink Edwards.

Edwards said those seeking aid or those who want to help with relief efforts can visit communitycooperative.com or, eventually, the website LeeCountyStrong.com that wasn't up and running as of Friday morning.

Community Cooperative, a nonprofit, has been working to alleviate hunger and homelessness in Lee and North Collier Counties for more than 38 years.

Money from the Joel Foundation will help in a variety of ways, Edwards said. Some relief will be designated for areas including the maritime communty especially hit hard: charter fishing and commerical fishing businesses, including shrimpers.

Roderick and Joel wanted some of the money earmarked for them.

“Bill is very much into supporting commercial fishing," Roderick said. Both grew up in Long Island, New York.

One of Joel's songs, "The Downeaster 'Alexa,' " from his 1989 Storm Front album, is about a Long Island fisherman struggling to keep his business afloat.

Roderick added that she visited Southwest Florida right after Ian and looked toward Sanibel and saw the devastation to a marina and other parts of the island.

"It was really upsetting just to see it," she said.

The Joel Foundation's focus for years has been music education, and it's possible that it could donate musical instruments to schools affected by Ian.

Yet recent catastrophic storms pounding the U.S. has meant the foundation has broadened its focus to help moree in need, Roderick said.

She said they reached out Community Cooperative because they were so impressed with how the nonprofit was helping in many ways to provide relief to hurricane survivors.

"You can see that the community is really coming together," Roderick sad.

Dave Osborn is the regional features editor of the Naples Daily News and News-Press. Follow him on Instagram @lacrossewriter and on Twitter @NDN_dosborn.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Hurricane Ian: Billy Joel, Alexis Roderick give SWFL $250,000 donation