More than 1,000 volunteers arrived in Fort Myers Saturday and began a week-long effort to help repair homes for families in the Harlem Heights area affected by Hurricane Ian.
The cadre of workers were from Eight Days of Hope, an all-volunteer and faith-based national organization partnering locally with the Heights Foundation, Summit Church, Lee Builders Care, and others.
“Our mission each day is to bring hope to Southwest Florida after the tremendous loss that this community experienced and continues to walk through," Stephen Tybor III, the organization's president and CEO, said. "We are here with arms open wide, ready to help, ready to bring hope and healing."
Organizers have been in town for several days getting things prepped for the legion of workers who got started Saturday making repairs.
Targeted are more than 100 families in Harlem Heights who were impacted by Hurricane Ian.
“The poverty rate in Harlem Heights is more than twice the county average,” said Kathryn Kelly, president, and CEO of The Heights Foundation/The Heights Center. “We know that almost 90% of the homes in Harlem Heights were damaged in Hurricane Ian. Many families lost everything in this storm; their homes, their vehicles, and their jobs in the service industry. We are grateful for the magnitude of support that Eight Days of Hope and their partners are bringing to Harlem Heights to restore this community.”
The effort will continue through Saturday, May 27.
Volunteer sign-up boards for roofing work, carpentry, painting, drywall repair and even cleaning help were set up in a great room at Summit Church on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway.
Hannah Fletcher, the groups communications director, said the clean-up crew was important.
"We leave the places where we stay just as clean as when we arrived," she said. As she spoke a group bustled in the background prepping meals, registering volunteers, and tidying up at the effort's headquarters at Summit Church.
This is not the first time Eight Days of Hope has been in Lee County. Following Hurricane Ian, EDOH served in the Fort Myers and Sarasota communities for 5 weeks, helping over 200 families with immediate disaster response.
"We were humbled to be able to come and help families right after the disaster with things like tarping roofs, gutting their homes, clearing trees, removing debris," EDOH's Fletcher said. "We spent five weeks in a Sarasota and Fort Myers area loving on these families in this community and we're so excited to be back to help them continue on our rebuilding journey."
Eight Days of Hope was founded in 2005 in the wake of devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Fletcher said that the original idea was for a few people to take a trip to the Gulf Coast to rebuild a home or two. Instead, she said, a volunteer effort of 684 people formed and helped 84 families.
Since then the organization has helped in more than a dozen hurricanes, from Katrina to Ian, floods, major snow storms, the 2020 Iowa Derecho, floods, ice storms and myriad tornadoes.
About Eight Days of Hope
- Name based on the number eight in the Bible, which means “new beginnings.”
- 49,692 volunteers have served with Eight Days of Hope
- 1,881,446 volunteer hours to date
- $70,126,530 million dollars of work has been completed
- Eight Days of Hope has remodeled, rebuilt, or worked on 3,938 homes and served an additional 4,974 families right after a disaster.
- 8,912 families have been served by Eight Days of Hope!
- Eight Days of Hope has served 11 organizations fighting against sex trafficking by renovating 12 homes to provide safe places for healing and restoration.
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