MOUND, Okla. — It has been more than a week since hurricane Dorian hit the Abaco Islands.
Responders are still sorting through wreckage and the death toll continues to rise.
While families mourn the loss of loves ones, two young men who survived the storm are now here in Tulsa to tell their story.
Anton Pinder and Richard Delancy Jr. are two out of a family of five.
Their mother is still in the Bahamas with their two younger sisters, a family who now have to start from scratch.
“I said mom you need to get everything. Grab your passport whatever you could grab because the flood is coming. So my uncle was like ‘no it aint coming’ we didn’t expect Hudson to flood," Delancy said.
Delancy says in his 21 years he's never seen anything like this.
“The water was a bout 6 to 7 feet like that. We barely made it out. But when it got up to me, it got so far. We were stuck. [There] wasn’t nowhere to really go,” Delancy said.
He says he had to be tough.
“I mean I was scared, but at the end of the day I have never experienced anything like that but I had to stay strong because I’m a survivor. If you don’t survive then you die so, you gotta be strong,” 'Delancy said.
His little brother Anton is the reason they had a way out.
“I was just laying down and I was like I wanted to leave I don’t want be here anymore and I didn’t know who to call but then I thought about the Vanderpools and I had a strong relationship with them. So I just picked up my phone and texted them,” Pinder said.
The Vanderpools have known these kids for at least five years.
Their nonprofit, Vision For Children, provides free eye exams and prescription glasses to children in the Bahamas.
Their son Max and Anton enjoyed playing together, creating the relationship that later changed everything.
“I just couldn’t breathe. I guess I had been wound up all day I guess when I saw them I just balled. It was just so good to see them and know they were safe,” Vanderpool said.
Vision for Children is the organization the Vanderpools run.
They rely only on donations, fundraising and their own money to provide free prescription eye glasses and eye exams to children in the Bahamas.
The nonprofit is spending close to $300 a day, and thousands after months of working in the Bahamas.
To donate and help Vision For Children to continue providing these resources to children, please click here.
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