Hurricane Ian recovery: Hundreds line up for essentials in west Orlando
Hundreds of cars snaked down Bruton Boulevard spanning close to a mile from the James R. Smith Center, where nonprofits and city officials gave out food, water, diapers and other supplies.
For more than two hours, volunteers including from the Second Harvest Food Bank, Equal Ground and the Central Florida Diaper Bank loaded trunks of vehicles with boxes of food, cases of water, baby supplies and hygenic products, underscoring the lasting impacts of Hurricane Ian beyond flooding and power outages.
“There are still people who are hurting; there are still people who lost a lot of food,” said Orlando City Commissioner Bakari Burns, whose District 6 office coordinated the drive. “That’s one of the things that we started to hear is our families needing diapers and some of the other essential supplies.”
Like much of the region, Burns’ district, including Holden Heights, Washington Shores and Carver Shores, faced flooding and several days without power. Many in the working-class neighborhoods had to throw away perishable food.
Further events are planned to meet food insecurity needs in the area.
Another food drive is planned for 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Smith Center, hosted by the If You Foundation, which expects to have supplies for about 600 families. The foundation has similar drives twice per month, which require registration, but following the storm, will have supplies for people who show up without doing so.
And next week, City Commissioner Regina Hill has coordinated for a mobile kitchen by Denny’s to be set up on Monday and Tuesday at Lake Lorna Doone Park near Camping World Stadium, she said. The kitchen will be serving up to 1,000 people per day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., she said.
Flooding, in particular, was most damaging in her district downtown and neighborhoods west of I-4.
“There was a lot of food loss and furnishings and clothing,” she said.”They’ve lost all of their personal effects.”
At the Smith Center on Wednesday, those who live nearby had varying experiences with Hurricane Ian, which roared across the state, devastating neighborhoods with historic rainfall and flooding.
Valerie Spencer’s neighborhood was flooded for days after Clear Lake overflowed. The water didn’t make it inside their home but they were without power until Saturday evening, she said, leading them to empty their fridge and freezer.
“I came to get some of the food and the water,” she said.
Ian piled on existing struggles for many families in Central Florida, said Sharon Lyles, the executive director of the Central Florida Diaper Bank. Before the storm, one in three American families could not afford to buy diapers, she said. The organization is hoping to distribute in flooded Orlo Vista and parts of Apopka later this week, she said. Cash donations are preferred.
“We have a lot of people in this area that had flooding. Their lights are out. Some of them just got their lights back on and have food loss. They have children that need diapers,” she said. “If they don’t have these diapers, then they can’t take their children to daycare.”
Gertrude Keaton, 72, called herself the “hurricane queen,” and has been seasoned in weathering hurricanes since the 1950s. This time around she was able to sop up some flood water inside her home with towels and made it through the storm alright.
“I did pretty well,” she said. “We’re blessed.”
