CORTEZ – A community supply distribution hub for all Cortez residents at the Sunny Shores Park clubhouse opened up shortly after Hurricane Helene and will be in place as long as possible.
“We want to give hope to people. The other day when I was leaving here, someone said to me, ‘Are you leaving this week too?’ They were referring to the Red Cross,” coordinator Betsy Plante said. “I said, we’re going to be here as long as we can be here.”
Many homes in Cortez were flooded during Hurricane Helene’s storm surge and some sustained further damage from Hurricane Milton.
The distribution center contains donated food and household items and is open every day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with lunch served between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The hub services residents of Paradise Bay, Sarasota Bay, Cortez Village and Cortez Park.
“We have to keep it positive because now is when the people need us,” Plante said. “There’s been a lot of support the past two weeks and you can see people getting back to normal. It’s communities like this is where they really need us right now and we’re going to be here.”
Plante is the president and co-founder of Bradenton-based Blessing Bags Project. The stated mission of that organization is to provide basic critical needs to homeless and less fortunate people.
“The Blessing Bags Project bought 25 air conditioners,” Plante said. “We’ve got tarps, big fans, air conditioners. We have small appliances, some dehumidifiers and grills.
I’ve done hurricane relief before and I started ordering all this stuff the day after the hurricane so we’d have it all in stock.”
Perry Webre from Houma, Louisiana heard about the hurricane damage in Cortez from a friend and made the 16-hour drive to Sunny Shores with a trailer full of donated food items.
“This is my vacation week from work,” Webre said. “I put an Amazon shopping list online and I posted a Walmart shopping list and people made donations. We brought prepared frozen meals.”
“One thing that is so great is, people are here that came for vacations and they’re all here volunteering,” Plante said.
