NORTH FORT MYERS
Hand-delivering supplies to families in need because if you don’t have a car or gas, a distribution site doesn’t help.
Loading bags of water bottles from trucks has become commonplace in Southwest Florida.
But what’s different is that strangers and volunteers walk the streets to essentially take orders and then bring them to your door.
Susan Thomas lives with her 6-year-old daughter, Bryn, and 8-year-old son, Camden, in Estero. She first visited Suncoast Estates in North Fort Myers, an area further inland.
Thomas is one of hundreds of volunteers who came out to support Better Together, a nonprofit organization. Their goal Tuesday was to knock on 4,000 doors in an underserved community.
“We have diapers, trash bags, apples,” Thomas said.
Given the circumstances left behind by Hurricane Ian, it was not difficult to find people in need. When they did, they returned to the truck and delivered the supplies right there.
Jaime Frasini lives in Suncoast Estates and received some important items to help during this time.
“Some garbage bags, bleach and some crackers for the boys,” Frasini said.
Frasini rode out the storm in her garage. One of the reasons she didn’t leave was because of her pet pig.
“It means a lot, it means people really care,” Frasini said. “Because we don’t get a lot here, people think of the Suncoast as a bad place, and it’s really not, you have a lot of people who care.”
Just looking at the church parking lot that has become a supply center shows that people don’t care. And the people who care go beyond Southwest Florida.
“All of these donations came from a donor in Tampa,” Megan Rose said. “They went shopping yesterday, they were at practice, then they got the truck together, and then they woke up really early this morning and drove everything.”
But thanks to an anonymous donor from Tampa, Better Together and Good Families have some of the supplies they need. And after Tuesday, those trucks will not stop.