Local real estate broker Kevin Hyde and his wife
and Nancy have been down to the Florida Keys
again and again since Irma came through. They have
been working with a program called “Mormon
Helping Hands” through the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints, and they are doing some of
the hardest clean-up work to be found. Kevin,
Nancy and other volunteers spend several weekends
disassembling mountains of debris – which
quite often is the remains of someone’s home –
and dragging everything to the curb. They offer
moral support to people there wherever they can
as well, and Kevin has gone as far as pulling money
out of his own pocket time and time again to help
people with everything from demolition fees to
groceries.
“The experience of helping out in such a meaningful
way is both humbling and exhilarating,” he
said. “It’s not every day that the average American
can make that kind of difference.”
Kevin said their first trip down right after
Hurricane Irma was more than overwhelming. It
was hard to comprehend the enormous piles of
rubble had once been people’s homes. It was so
hard to see people wandering the ruined streets,
seemingly disattached from this new, apocalyptic reality.
After seeing it that first time, Kevin and Nancy
worked diligently to get volunteers and materials
down to the Keys on numerous trips, and plan on
helping the people there until everyone is back on their
feet.
“The news talked about hundreds and thousands of
volunteers that had come to The Keys, but they are so
spread out so wide and the damage is so deep and the
need is so great,” Kevin said. “It will be a very long time
before the people of the Florida Keys don’t need us
anymore.”
The list of people and organizations from the island
who helped others during and after the storm goes on
and on. Island native Ronica Davis, owner of Native
Gardens, got together a truckload of supplies for hurricane
relief as well. She and her friends organized a bake
sale to raise money and ended up making thousands of
dollars to fund hurricane relief. While their original plan
was to head with supplies to The Everglades, their help
was diverted in another direction.
“Things didn’t turn out exactly like we expected, but
that’s OK,” she said. “We teamed up with the Boca
Grande United Methodist Church and our donations
ended up being sent to Alva, Fla. So many thanks to
Michael Saunders & Company of Boca Grande for their
matching donations, and to the Methodist Church and
Hudson’s Grocery for letting us have the bake sale
there.”
The island’s Methodist Church had been busy with
hurricane relief prior to any of us even knowing Irma’s
name. Volunteers there had been putting together relief
buckets to send to victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church collected
supplies and donations as well, and another group of
anonymous folks simply called “The Community of Boca
Grande” put together more than $14,000 worth of
donations for area children in need after the hurricane.
It is reported that 2,708 articles of clothing, 144 pairs
of socks and 112 backpacks have been distributed
through the program coordinated with Land’s End
Clothing. The company gave a substantial discount to
the group, so their money went even farther. The group
even had enough left over to put together 400 personal
hygiene kits for children.
The sense of community in Boca Grande is very real,
as is the spirit of generosity – this last storm has given
us proof of that. We can not only count our blessings
that Hurricane Irma decided to deviate from her course
at the last minute, but that the people we call our
friends and neighbors in Boca Grande realize how important
it is to give back to others as thanks for those
blessings.
A church full of volunteers in Key West from the
Mormon Helping Hands organization.
GM