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In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, one Utah business with customers on the Gulf Coast literally came to the rescue.

APX Alarm sends hundreds of employees to the Gulf Coast states every summer to sell security systems. So when disaster struck, employees couldn't resist returning to their home away from home to help those whose lives the disaster left in shambles.

When the company found out that Hurricane Ike ravaged thousands of its customers' homes on the Gulf Coast, managers knew that simply sending a donation was not enough.

Alex Dunn said, "We called customers down there that had been affected. We just told them that we were coming down and that we had a lot of people that wanted to come and help them."

Two buses filled with food, tools, supplies, and 90 eager-to-help employees pulled out of Utah County last Wednesday and returned home to Utah this morning. While they had witnessed the devastation on television, they say nothing prepared them for what they saw when they arrived.

Tyson Croft said, "To actually drive into Galveston and see the boats in the middle of the road and inside people's homes, and homes completely destroyed, it was a surreal experience and very humbling."

While there, the group helped more than 50 families begin the process of rebuilding. The first step was clearing out the many homes that were once submerged in more than 15 feet of water.

Dunn said, "There was literally nothing in the homes that was salvageable - their furniture, their clothes, everything - which was really sad."

Although giving of their time and energy instead of their money may have taken more effort, they say it was worth it.

Croft said, "To see them cry and tell us that we were an answer to their prayers was well worth any sacrifice that we made on our part to go down and help those people."

The clean up continues along the Gulf Coast. Although thousands of evacuees have returned to their homes, officials say it will take months to restore the billions of dollars worth of home, business and property damage.

E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com