Year After Irma Hit, Police Heroes Visit Clearwater Grandmother

CLEARWATER, FL – On this day last year as Hurricane Irma made its way up Florida's Gulf Coast for its unwelcome visit to Tampa Bay, members of the Clearwater Police Department were making a visit of their own. But this visit was most welcome.

The police received a call from Rachel Copeland in Houston, Texas, who was still mopping up from the widespread flood damage caused by Hurricane Harvey two weeks earlier.

Copeland was concerned because her 94-year-old grandmother, Betty Helmuth, lived alone in Clearwater. Helmuth, who depends on a walker, doesn’t drive so she had no way to get to the store to purchase supplies in anticipation of Hurricane Irma’s arrival.

Clearwater Police Officer James Frederick promptly mobilized a battalion of officers to the rescue.

They showed up at Helmuth’s apartment carrying bags filled with water, food, flashlights, batteries and other items to help her survive the hurricane.

As Frederick, flanked by fellow officers, knocked on her door, Helmuth timidly peeked out. When she saw a group of uniformed officers carrying bags, her uncertainty turned to surprise.

“You're good looking,” were the first words she uttered.

“She was excited and tickled to see the boys in blue, but she joked that she was concerned her neighbors might think they were there to arrest her,” said Frederick.

By the time Frederick and his fellow officers left, they were calling her “Miss Betty” and giving her hugs.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” Helmuth told them. “God bless you.”

In the year since, the officers have continued to check up on Helmuth, even crashing her 95th birthday party.

Frederick said they couldn’t allow the one-year anniversary of their introduction to Miss Betty go by without a visit. So they returned to her now-familiar apartment on Monday morning, Sept. 10.

“This morning, we visited with Betty Helmuth, the sweet and adorable woman we took hurricane supplies to a year ago ahead of Hurricane Irma,” said Frederick in a post on the Clearwater Police Facebook page. “Little did we know that the one visit would lead to a great relationship between her and us.”

Images and video via Clearwater Police

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