A millionaire former adult magazine owner has opened the doors of his mansion to 70 foster children left homeless by Hurricane Irma.
Marc Bell, the ex-Penthouse boss, and his wife Jennifer took in dozens of foster children who had been sleeping on a gymnasium floor in the wake of the catastrophic storm.
The children were allowed to help themselves to the arcade games in the Boca Raton house in Florida and they all sat down for dinner to the sound of a live guitarist after all the girls had been given manicures.
A downed power pole is secured by a Boca Raton police cruiser on the oceanfront A1A state road after the passing of Hurricane Irma in Boca Raton, Florida, US, September 11, 2017
Mr and Mrs Bell stepped in when it emerged the youngsters were being forced out of their sheltered accommodation after the hurricane ripped through the southern US state.
The SOS Children’s Village Florida – the foster care community – called the successful entrepreneur begging for help, saying ‘We’ve been evicted from our shelters and we don’t know where to bring the kids, and we’re not getting any help from the county – what do we do?’.
In response, Mr Bell told CBS: ‘I said bring them here.
‘They were hungry. They were tired.
‘They lived in the gymnasium for a week. They hadn’t showered for a week and you saw how excited they were.’
A lone car drives down a road as Hurricane Irma strikes on September 10, 2017 in Boca Raton, Florida
The couple said they never thought twice about taking the children in and pulled out all the stops to make sure the sleepover was a memorable one.
Mrs Bell told CBS: ‘They don’t have a mom or a dad so they’re scared, and then their house parents, even know they’re there for them, they’re scared too,’ Jennifer Bell said.
‘So to have these kids feel welcomed and to just feel comfortable, as a mom it just makes you feel like you’re doing something good.
‘It’s knowing that later on these kids are going to look back and they’re going to want to help someone else.’