Jackie Egan and Rick Bandimere – who work for Keller Williams Realty in Blaine – both have connections to Fort Myers. They sprang into action once they realized how bad things were in the Sunshine State. After the storm, Bandimere called some friends at Triple A Movers to see if they could assist in relief and clean up efforts. Triple A jumped at the chance. “Within four minutes they texted me back and said that they’re in,” Bandimere said. “They donated a semi truck, a trailer and a driver to drive all the way down there.” Soon, Jackie and Rick were part of a Blaine contingent making the 1710 mile trip to Ft. Myers to volunteer. They filled up the semi and donated goods to residents in need. “Supplies, tools, generators, bleach, cleaning products,” Bandimere said. “Different things like that.” They also brought over 80 bikes to SW Florida that were donated by a local nonprofit. “You couldn’t bring enough bikes,” Bandimere said. “But we brought em and then you’d see kids riding around like Christmas.” “WAR ZONE” SW Florida is clearly in rebuild mode. Egan and Bandimere saw the devastation up close and came away with some powerful takeaways. “It’s like a war zone,” Egan said. “It’s like a third country war zone where bombs had gone off. You can go and look at blocks and there’s nothing there. There’s some foundation pieces maybe. There’s some piers where houses were on stilts originally, but the houses are gone.” “I haven’t seen as much poverty in America as I’ve seen by going down there and experiencing that,” Bandimere said. “There’s nothing on the shoreline,” Egan said. “You go lengths without seeing a building where you know before there were two or three restaurants, there was a souvenir shop, duplexes, triplexes. It’s gone.” Gigantic sand mounds were created by the 16-foot storm surge, as Ian’s high winds toppled trees and structures everywhere. A trailer park in tiny Pine Island, FL was almost blown off the map. “Now they were storm damaged with roofs off of them,” Bandimere said. “Some completely destroyed. Others with walls off of them, Everyone of those had water four feet high or whatever into those properties. They’re living in them today.” SW FLORIDA RESIDENTS GRATEFUL FOR SUPPORT The volunteers from Blaine would drive and walk the streets handing out cold water, supplies and other essential items to those in need. “You could talk to these people and they had smiles on their faces, but you see their souls were almost empty,” Egan said. “They’re lost. They just don’t know what to do, some of them.” People who lost everything in the hurricane, were extremely grateful that volunteers like Egan and Bandimere showed up to chip in. “I couldn’t believe the amount of appreciation.” Bandimere said. “The amount of gratitude. The amount of smiles we’d see….You’re handing out a Clorox container and a roll of paper towels and they’re grateful. Think of that. You’re handing out things you take for granted and they’re grateful.” “Yeah we made a difference but you walk away going, there’s so much more to do,” Egan said. “There’s so much more left here.” So far the group has raised $20,000 for hurricane victims. Their goal is 50k. If you want to donate, go to SWFloridarelief.com.
HURRICANE HEROES: BLAINE RESIDENTS BRING SUPPLIES TO SW FLORIDA
BLAINE, Minn. (Nov. 11, 2022) – In late September, Hurricane Ian blew through Southwest Florida, leaving a swath of destruction. Fort Myers and surrounding towns were in the bulls eye of this super storm.
