Orlando man gave up Lowe’s last generator so a heartbroken stranger could power her dad’s oxygen machine

In the days before Hurricane Irma made landfall, a moment between two strangers at a Lowe’s store in Orlando turned into something far more meaningful. With generators in short supply, one man stepped forward and gave up the last one in the store, without knowing just how much it would mean. The story, first captured by WFTV’s Nancy Alvarez, unfolded in the middle of a checkout line when the woman, Pam Brekke, had been searching for days to find a generator to keep her 87-year-old father-in-law’s oxygen machine running through the storm. She finally heard that Lowe’s had some in stock and drove 30 miles from Sanford, but by the time she arrived, she was just a few steps too late.

"I was upset. I’m scared. I’m nervous. I was here during the ’04 hurricanes, and I know what they’re like. During Charley, Frances, and Jeanne, we were without power for seven days for each of those storms," she said in an interview with PEOPLE. Her father-in-law, Richard Robinson, was living with congestive heart failure, so the generator was more than essential. That’s when Ramon Santiago, a fellow shopper who had picked up one of the last generators, saw her crying and walked over to help. "I saw in her face that she was distressed, crying inconsolably and pacing back and forth," Santiago said through a translator.

He had intended to use the generator for a home where his mother cared for his two grandmothers, both 97, one of whom could no longer walk. "I did what anyone with feelings would do," he said. Brekke tried to refuse, but Santiago insisted. "At first, I said, 'Oh, no, sir. You need that for yourself.' I started walking away, but he said, 'Ma’am, this is yours. You take this generator.' I told him that he was my angel," she said. Alvarez shared the story online and later worked with Lowe’s to help Santiago, too. A second generator was delivered to the store, and Santiago was invited back to receive it.

Santiago shared, "Let’s take this moment that we’re all here for each other, helping each other out — and extend it beyond the hurricane." After the storm passed, WFTV brought Brekke and Santiago back together for a reunion at the upholstery business where she worked. "This was the embrace felt across the country," Alvarez said during the WFTV Channel 9 report. Both were emotional, reflecting on how many people were touched by what happened in that checkout line. Santiago never knew all the details when he offered his generator, but seeing her cry was enough.

Santiago’s family, it turned out, never lost power long enough to need the backup generator. The one Lowe’s gave him stayed in its box, and the one he gave away is still at Brekke’s house, unused. They both said they were proud to be part of a moment that reminded so many people what compassion looks like, even in chaos. This is what researchers call "catastrophe compassion." A 2020 review by Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki found that far from descending into selfishness, people commonly embrace acts of solidarity and altruism in emergencies. Disasters spark prosocial behavior, mutual aid, and renewed social connection, showing how deeply human kindness runs when it's tested in dire moments. "The kindness of your neighbor — that’s what God wants us to do anyway. We showed that there’s still goodness and love in the world," Brekke said.