Snowbirds very valuable to our community

I guess you could call my sister and I snowbirds. We alternate three months at a time to come to this beautiful state of Florida to be with our mother, who became a full-time resident about 14 years ago after she and my father, since 1974, were official snowbirds as they would come from Illinois to their home here in Florida every year from January to the middle of April.

Now to my point. When I was here this past spring I was watching the news and a reporter was interviewing local residents who were complaining about the extra traffic, congestion, and the more time it takes to get around on the roads and highways caused by those snowbirds.

I really did not give this much thought until I read the editorial page of the Bradenton Herald about the Food Bank of Manatee operated by Meals on Wheels PLUS and how their shelves are bare. I want to add here, my Mom and I delivered Meals on Wheels to so many wonderful people for over six and a half years in Illinois. Now this article goes on to say that the benevolent snowbirds are so missed, that the food bank received 61,000 pounds of food donations this past January and now in June it is down to 16,600 pounds.

People, do not worry about that extra traffic for a few months. These snowbirds not only stock that food bank, they also spend lots of money in the stores, pay taxes on their second home here just like my parents did for many, many years and do a lot of volunteering. In other words, these snowbirds add so much to this economy that I just don’t think anyone should complain about some added traffic.

My answer to this problem ... leave a few minutes earlier!

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 8:43 AM with the headline "Snowbirds very valuable to our community."