A happy, orderly chaos ruled the Cullman County Rest Area throughout the weekend, as an impromptu local hurricane relief effort, mustered via the power of social media, lingered at the I-65 travel stop into Monday afternoon.

As news of mass evacuations from Florida spread late last week, local real estate agent Rhonda Hagemore leveraged her extensive social media connections to organize a massive, community-driven outreach effort.

Beginning Saturday and, as of Monday, lasting “until we aren’t needed anymore,” Hagemore and an army of local and regional volunteers crammed the rest area’s visitor center, handing out donated items to passing Floridians who’re unlikely to find a ready supply of basic necessities when they return home.

Hagemore said she’s been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from businesses, churches, schools and ordinary people.

“We live in the best place ever,” said Hagemore Monday, coordinating donation tables in the rest area’s lobby. “I have about 5,000 friends on Facebook, and I put out one post — and people just responded. It was shared, like, 1,300 times.

“My gosh, this whole region has been so giving. People here, and then people from Florence; people from Birmingham, Arley, Nauvoo. I have enough people in different places committed, now, to house over 100 families. My network has been just awesome.”

ALDOT staffer Debbie Storie said the volume of northbound traffic stopping at the rest area had been tremendous throughout the weekend.

“There’s been people all over the place,” Storie said. “It’s been awesome. I worked 16 hours yesterday, and I got to see all the heaviest traffic. I cried all afternoon yesterday. People — the older people especially — they would come up and see all this set out for them, and they were so overwhelmed that the people here were doing this.”

“There’s a lot of gratitude,” added fellow ALDOT staffer Jerome Fields. “People have come in and seen all this, and you think: you should always act with love and kindness.”

Locals’ bright spirits consistently lifted those of the traveling Floridians who discovered Cullman County’s volunteer effort, Hagemore said.

“People just can’t believe it. We fed probably over 2,000 yesterday [Sunday]. Hot meals. Olive Garden — they actually had a chef who stood over there and fed people all day yesterday. Jack’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Pizza Hut, Cici’s Pizza, Wendy’s, Williams Barbecue — so many have responded. Jason Gertsman with Valley Heating and Cooling — he paid for a week of lodging at Smith Lake Park for people.

“I definitely need to give everybody props. And we’re gonna be out here until we don’t need to be here any longer.”

Weather doesn’t discriminate according to economic status (or anything else), and Hagemore said the rest area’s volunteers had indeed assisted travelers from all walks of life.

“This isn’t about rich or poor; this is about everybody being in a situation where they have no place to go,” she said. “I talked with a real estate agent who works with Sotheby’s in Florida. She had a $5.5 million deal closing today. And I sent her and her family — in their Mercedes — to a home. All these different people have a need, and there’s nobody to take care of that need unless the community comes together and does it.”

Hagemore has secured a 20,000 square-foot warehouse near Dodge City to serve as a distribution point for donated relief supplies. The idea is to follow through on the relief effort after the hurricane by trucking necessities to storm-stricken areas throughout Florida.

“We want to help these people recover after the storm,” she said. “We’ve already sent four trucks out to different areas. And this community has already sent more than a million dollars’ worth of stuff to the victims of Harvey in Texas. So now it’s time we stepped up and sent that same kind of relief to Irma victims.”

The collection drive will focus on the basics: baby supplies, pet supplies, personal care items, “and really anything that people need to get their lives back on track — because right now, they have nothing,” she said.

To contact Hagemore with donations for the ongoing effort, text her at 256-736-3220, or email her at rhondahagemore@kw.com.