‘We are not forgotten.’ Myakka thankful for outpouring of support after Hurricane Ian
The sun was shining over a blue sky as a slight cool breeze blew and Tia Bigi loaded groceries onto the back of a Ford F-150 outside the Myakka Community Center on Friday morning.
Like many others there Friday, she wasn’t just picking up donations for herself.
“I actually got a few things I needed, and now I am helping whoever else needs it,” Bigi said.
The truckload of groceries and other essentials were for her elderly uncle and two other families in need.
Raised in the Myakka City area, she and her daughters Bailey, 6, and Bristol, 4, now live in Arcadia. She considered herself fortunate because her home suffered no damage, just downed trees.
“It was kind of crazy but we fared well,” she recalled the fierce winds and rain that Hurricane Ian delivered last week.
Just two days after the storm, Manatee County officials set up outside the Myakka Community Center with a place for people to come get the resources they needed. Portable showers were set up and tarps, bug spray, water, sunscreen, ice and propane were distributed.
“None of us expected what we have received. Since Tuesday, we opened it up to families in the community for stuff that was not available to them prior,” said Pepper Sellars, executive director of the Myakka Community Center.
Meanwhile, Myakka City Elementary Elementary Principal Carol Ricks, who ran the shelter at the school, knew her local families were going to need help.
“When the shelter closed last Thursday, I really began to realize how badly the community was impacted,” she explained. “We were trying to close as search and rescue groups were trying to come in. We had families that couldn’t go home because their homes weren’t accessible, the roads were closed. I realized the need.
She shared with her school district director and fellow principals that “the school was fine but the community was hit hard.” The others quickly began collecting donations and delivering them to the school.
Ricks and PTO president Kelly Strausbaugh organized the collection center at the school.
But come Monday, Myakka City Elementary was still without power and water so Ricks asked and Sellars agreed that the donation dropoff and pickup location could be relocated down the road to the community center.
“We have some families out here that lost their homes,” Sellars said.
Donations poured in and continued to on Friday. Volunteers were able to supply residents in need with water, non-perishable food, clothes, shoes, towels, sheets and many other basic household and personal needs.
The Salvation Army also set up shop, providing hot meals to people and other food they could take home with them.
Volunteers also visited the local dairy farms to drop off food for their workers as well.
“We are a large community effort and we were able to reach a lot of our community,” Sellars said. “It has been heartbreaking, but as a volunteer and helper, when you are able to give them a little bit of hope when they just lost their home, that’s just heartwarming.”
Sellars reflected on the emotional stress those who had just lost their homes were under, saying it isn’t anything you can ever imagine.
“To see someone walk up that has just lost everything and be able to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got that for you.’ When you have have nothing and you can offer a toothbrush, it’s amazing,” she explained. “That little bit has made their day a little bit better.”
When school is in session, the community center serves as a pre-K and also offers before and after school care.
“It has fulfilled our hearts out here that we were able to help the families that we see on a daily basis,” she added.
Myakka not forgotten
Even as donations were continuing to come in, volunteers and staff at the community center and from the elementary school were preparing to pack most of the remaining donations to send to another hard-hit area, Arcadia, and ground zero for Hurricane Ian, Fort Myers.
Myakka City Elementary School was the only school in the county that did not resume classes last Tuesday.
“That gave us the opportunity to reach out to all families, find out how they are, find out what they need,” Ricks said. “We gave them breakfast and lunch for the students and then directed them here.”
Students are physically well, she said, but she and her staff have plans to provide extra support including the help of guidance counselors to help the children deal with the trauma inflicted by the hurricane when class resumes on Monday.
“In the past, people have always said that Myakka is forgotten and that we’re the stepchild of the community and this is proof right here that we are not forgotten and that the entire community and county cares for us and wants to help us get back on our feet,” Ricks said looking around at tables filled with donated food and boxes and racks of donated clothes.
Gloria Madero was among those that came to get help on Friday.
“God bless them all,” Madero said in Spanish as her tears wells looking around at everything. “We lost everything and they have given us so much.
With the school closed, third-grade teacher Kristen Weems was among those who had volunteered.
“I could have cried seeing everybody willing to help. All the schools, all the truckloads,” Weems said. “It was very heartwarming to see everyone in the community very willing to help. It made me feel good. It made everybody else feel good. During a time like this everybody needs to feel good.”
In the immediate days after, she too was busy checking in with her students’ families and was happy to hear that none of them suffered major damage to their homes.
“From the families that I have talked to, they are ready to come back to school, surprisingly,” Weems said. “After two weeks of not seeing everyone, I was saying, ‘I miss my babies.’ I got to see a few of them here. That was great.
“I cannot complain. Compared to everyone else, I lost power for maybe 26 hours but that is nothing compared to what everyone is going through out here. I have been very fortunate.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
