Hurricane Dorian dismantled the Bahamas and was heading for Florida at record breaking speeds. Although the storm has calmed down, many evacuees worried about where they could find emergency housing that wouldn’t gouge their pocketbooks even worse than the damage already caused. A simple act of kindness can help a lot of people get through the evident hard times.

AirBnB is hosting free housing for up to two weeks for Hurricane Dorian evacuees. More than one million people along the south east coast have been put under mandatory evacuation due to the detrimental effects of Hurricane Dorian. In all the mass panic and commotion, people who are leaving have nowhere to go. Usually a night’s stay at AirBnB costs an average of sixty to seventy dollars a night, something very expensive for people who have just been forced to leave their homes and don’t know when they’ll be able to come back or what they’ll be coming back to. Head of disaster and relief for AirBnB Kellie Bentz stated, “More than 1,300 guests have been booked, the company is looking for more hosts who can volunteer.” She additionally stated that, “We would love anyone to sign up to host their neighbors, Airbnb is waiving its own fees for those listings but is not offering hosts an incentive to offer their rooms or homes.” Bentz goes on to say, “They literally just want to do this for free.”

AirBnB isn’t the only company to open their facilities to the evacuees. Uber and Lyft are both offering credited rides if you use the code DORIANRELIEF. Lots of people need emergency shelter but don’t have ways to get there.  The people at Uber and Lyft have opened their hearts and are offering fiftteen to twenty dollar credited rides to people evacuating. Kaitlyn Carl a Lyft spokesperson said, “The code has been applied more than 300 times so far.” Uber and Lyft have also added that the drivers will not lose out on pay despite the coupon code.

An act of kindness can turn around someone’s day but when big companies come together to help with this catastrophic disaster, it really shows you what people can be if they come together and work to make solutions.