But the students who stayed behind to weather Hurricane Irma are getting the education of a lifetime.

“I told our students they’d be better men and women by Monday,” University President Jim Towey said Wednesday.

The students and staff of the university, which was largely spared from hurricane damage, have been volunteering in droves to lend a hand in Immokalee, the nearby farming community which was not so fortunate.

On Wednesday, students filled van after van with water, sandwiches, fruit and bread and drove into Immokalee.

Some went to the soup kitchen operated by Guadalupe Social Services, but others drove straight into neighborhoods where residents are just returning from shelters to find spoiled food, flooded streets and few stores open.

Students and staff from Ave Maria University pass out food and water towife Linda through the flood water and debris at Citrus Park in Bonita Springs on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, three days after Hurricane Irma. The Stroshein's came back to check on their home for the first time since the storm, which was luckily still standing. Nicole Raucheisen/Naples Daily News

Linda and Dave Stroshein hold hands as they walk through a flooded Citrus Park to see their house for the first time since Hurricane Irma in Bonita Springs on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. Nicole Raucheisen/Naples Daily News

Ralph and Lana Gruver walk through their neighbor's yard to get to their house at Citrus Park in Bonita Springs on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, three days after Hurricane Irma. The knee-high flood waters on their street made it impassable by car. Nicole Raucheisen/Naples