Tampa Bay Buccaneer Javien Elliot has not been able to return to his hometown of Panama City since Hurricane Michael hit as the season is underway.
“I haven’t seen physically,” he said. “I think if I seen it physically it’d be much worse.”
The former FSU player is from the Panhandle and tells ABC Action News several people in his family lost everything.
“Got to figure out what's next, got to figure out if they’re going to relocate to a different city, or if they’re just going to stick it out and hang in Panama City,” he said.
Elliott said all his family is safe as most of them rode out the storm because of how fast it intensified.
On Tuesday several of his teammates were by his side helping collect donations from fans and people in the Tampa Bay community.
The donations were collected in the Publix parking lot near their practice area.
Those donations will be taken to the Panhandle by XPO Logistics as they volunteered two of their trucks.
Former Bucs player Vincent Jackson teamed up with his foundation, Jackson in Action 83, to help fill two semis.
“It’s always going to be a team effort,” he said, “there’s no I, there’s no me, there’s no my foundation over your foundation, it’s about how can we all do our part.”
The Bucs accepted donations from noon to 7 p.m.
