Hurricane Ian: One Year Later

32 • HURRICANE IAN: ONE YEAR LATER • 2023 NONPROFITS damaged, thrived Jessica Orlando Staff Writer ENGLEWOOD — At the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Ian, nonprofits in DeSoto, Charlotte and Sarasota counties recount the hardships endured, along with the perseverance it took to come back from the monster storm. Nonprofits serve the community often times through volunteers. Many groups sprung into action to help people following Hurricane Ian. ENGLEWOOD CHAMBER The Englewood Florida Chamber of Commerce saw a need to help its community members after Ian swept through, destroying businesses, homes, beaches, parks and more in the Englewood area. Doug Izzo, executive director, knew that the chamber had to do something. "Charlotte County and Sarasota County had nothing after the storm," Izzo said. "There was no messaging or resources — nothing." Izzo made some calls to the Bay County Chamber of Commerce in northern Florida, and spoke to people who had some experience with emergency planning after Hurricane Michael in 2018. He also had some connections to people in Tampa who were asking about donations for their neighbors to the south. "We had about 35 to 40 truck and trailer loads of supplies from Tampa, and we turned the back community room into a distribution center," Izzo said. "We had gasoline, propane, tarps and water." Izzo said over time, the essentials transitioned into clothing and cleaning supplies. "We had four phones and all staff answering phone calls," he said. "The sad part was a lot of people called and didn't know what they wanted, but they just needed someone to talk to." Community members also used the chamber office to charge their electronics, or to simply just get in a place some air conditioning for awhile. "We actually had a lot of volunteers who drove out to the hardest-hit communities to bring supplies to them," Izzo said. "People couldn't get out, and it was pretty bad." Izzo said the chamber worked with everyone and anyone willing to help, in order to provide items and support to the community. "Everyone banded together and helped each other," he said. "I feel like after big disasters like that, there's a lot of bad that comes out of it, but there's a lot of good too." The chamber also provided monetary support for both businesses and their employees. Some of the biggest challenges the chamber faced through Ian were communication and roof tarping. "We could get the tarps, but we couldn't get anyone to put them on the roofs," he said. Izzo said going forward, the chamber is prepared to help again if another devastating storm impacts the community. Since Ian, area counties have been working on long-term planning which will create a guide as to what communities should do when devastated. ROTARY CLUBS Jim Harrison is a part of the Lemon Bay Sunrise Rotary, which is one of five clubs in Englewood. The Rotarians play a vital part in community assistance whether that be through fundraising, assisting someone in need or providing information. During Hurricane Ian, Rotarians were no different. They distribution center at the Lemon Bay Plaza where the old K-Mart building sits empty. Club members received permission to use the space, and then directed shipments of donated items into the store. There were dozens of tables, some piled high with food, others with cleaning supplies, others with tools and work gloves and safety googles. "All of us rotary clubs came together to help at the distribution center," Harrison said. "It looked like a mini Walmart, Publix, or a Home Depot." Harrison said that truckloads of items came in from all across Florida and states like Indiana and Pennsylvania. "We had canned goods, diapers, dog food, solar lights and bottled water," He said. "There was just a variety of stuff for everyone." The distribution center was open for six weeks following Ian and Harrison said there was about a million dollars worth of stuff throughout the duration. "The most needed item seemed to be diapers which surprised me a little," Harrison said. "Things like food, water and tarps were a need as well." After stores got back up and running, the distribution center closed down and gave their remaining items to food banks and Englewood Helping Hand. Meanwhile, Rotarians organized weekend cleanups of several of the mobile home parks hit hardest by the storm. Harrison is a native Floridian and he said that he's never seen anything like Ian before, but if a storm like that happened again the rotaries are ready and prepared to help out again. "Our rotary district is 6960 and following Ian, we have an emergency manager now in case this happens again," he said. "Our County Commissioner Ron Cutsinger was a huge help throughout Ian." HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Habitat for Humanity in Charlotte County has four ReSale stores, but the Englewood store was the hardest hit by Hurricane Ian, according to Kellie Allen, the senior director of outreach. They serve to help fund Habitat's mission of providing low-cost homes to people who need them, and they are good places for people to find inexpensive items. "We had to actually chain up the parking lot because people were trying to come here to replenish the things they had lost," Allen PROVIDED BY JIM HARRISON Englewood Rotarians work on helping mobile home owners remove debris from their property in October, 2022. PHOTO BY JESSICA ORLANDO Englewood Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Doug Izzo speaks recently at an event.

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