By David Fleet
Editor
Estero Fla.— It’s been just over six month since Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 hurricane blew through coastal islands before making landfall in southwest Florida on Sept. 29, 2022 killing hundreds. President Joe Biden toured the area and declared it “an American crisis.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis described the storm, which reached sustained winds of more than 155 mph, as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the state. More than 3 million people lost power, and the death toll topped 150.
While the storm played havoc in the populated areas such as Ft. Myers, smaller communities, also felt the brunt of the storm.
About 20 miles south of Ft. Myers and one mile inland from the Gulf of Mexico is the community of Estero, population 37,000. According to the village council, an estimated 250,000 cubic yards of debris was collected and many of the community’s 1,400 were damaged.
While the national news focus of Hurricane Ian has since past the needs for many in the area continues.
On March 18, Seymour Lake United Methodist Church Pastor Todd Jones and several members filled with Holy Spirit compassion, too some of their vacation time and flew to Florida at their own expense to participate in an ongoing initiative that was designed to help restore both homes and hope to the afflicted families of Estero for a one-week mission trip. The Global Methodist Church got busy gathering building materials and lining up local churches that could host teams from around the county.
“For many families, this meant they had lost everything they owned and for those who hadn’t been able to afford insurance, they were not only left homeless, but hopeless,” said Jones.
The Wesleyan Covenant Association put a plea to churches nationwide that funds were available to help families in need.
“They had the materials, they just needed the workforce to complete the job,” said Jones. “The Estero Church has about 35 projects to work on. The church has a little older congregation, so they needed some help.”
The SLUMC group worked on a home damaged in Hurricane Irma in September 2017, the repairs had not been done properly. As a result, when Ian hit the home just did not hold up.
“When the first heavy rain storm from Hurricane Ian hit, the house was just destroyed,” he said. “The family was just trying to live in the house and get back to normal. We completed the drywall among other projects during our mission trip.”
“The congregation fed us and we just super kind,” he said. “They saw the devastation and just could not do anything about it. They wanted to help the groups from across the county coming in to help.”