CORTEZ – Many individuals and groups have stepped up to help Cortez residents who lost so much in last week’s hurricane.
The Cortez Church of Christ is a distribution center for residents of donated food and supplies.
“Right now, the one thing people here need is air mattresses. People are still sleeping on their wet couches,” Jenee Hall said.
Volunteers will be distributing items and food at the church for as long as is needed.
Church members set up another distribution center at Sunny Shores on Wednesday and volunteers handed out paper goods, food, and cleaning and personal supplies.
“We do need air mattresses and bedding,” Kevin Hall said. “Another thing people could really use is charcoal grills.”
He said volunteers will be there for four to five days.
Bob Hooper, who has volunteered more than 1,000 hours in the past year doing repair and maintenance work for the Cortez Cultural Center and the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH), saw the flooding undo months of his work in refurbishing the old firehouse.
“We got about 4 feet of water in here,” Hooper said. “I’m going to have to clean this up, and probably repaint the walls. The cabinets and doors got wet and the refrigerator was tipped over and ruined.”
Hooper, who stores many of his own tools in a small outbuilding next to the Cortez Village Historical Society (CVHS)’s Cortez Cultural Center, lost those tools when the building caught fire Thursday night.
“There was a rechargeable battery in there and when the salt water hit it, the whole building went up,” he said. “The fire burned down to the water line.”
He said it was fortunate that the winds didn’t carry the flames to the Cultural Center, which contains many historical artifacts, records and photos of the fishing village.
CVHS President Cindy Rodgers sent The Sun a list of Hooper’s tools that she hopes people would be kind enough to help replace. They include a 6-foot ladder, extension cords, mitre saws, pipe wrenches, extended chain saw, jigsaw, skill saw, battery powered drills, impart driver drill and assorted socket sets, hammers and pliers.
On Thursday, a group of volunteers from the community and the Salvation Army helped clean up the burnt debris.
Rodgers also said many old books and historical records that had been stored in Fisherman’s Hall were ruined by the flood waters.
Star Fish Co. posted the following on its Facebook page: “We also are going to try to be a hub to get volunteers where they can be the most helpful. Cortez and Sunny Shores residents need help removing large items from their homes (furniture and appliances specifically) and they need help cleaning up the mud and silt that seems to be everywhere.”
Potential volunteers can call Star at 941-794-1243 or A.P. Bell Fish Co. at 941-794-1249.
“We are creating a list of who here needs what type of help. We’ll then connect volunteers to those residents. So grab your rubber boots and come help us pick up the pieces,” the Facebook post stated.
Despite having flooding in her home, Gail, a longtime resident, said she would never move away from Cortez.
“You will never find another community where people help each other like this,” she said.
