Volunteers Lend a Hand to Ft. Pierce Reservation

By Michael Kelly

HOLLYWOOD — On Labor Day, Sept. 6, a convoy of tribal citizens from Hollywood made their way to assist the Ft. Pierce reservation following the destructive path of Hurricane Frances.

Some tribal citizens there suffered days without electricity, water damage, and uprooted trees just to name a few. Almost a dozen carloads of food, water, coolers of ice, and lots of baby supplies, helped to get the community, which suffered the most extensive damage of all the reservations this hurricane season.

Among the many volunteers included: Wanda Bowers, Sally Tommie, Leona Tommie-Williams, Leoma Poore, Jo North, Diane Buster, Mike and Judy Tiger, Gloria Wilson, Thommy Doud, Vivian Delgado, Alison Osceola, Ernie Tiger, Leah Osceola, Barbara Butera, Eugena Osceola, and Angie Margotta.

“ Some people there in Ft. Pierce were without power for almost a week,” said Leoma Poore. “A lot of the damage was done by falling trees.”

The Seminole Tribe housing department assisted as well, sending supplies to the Brighton community and to Ft. Pierce. As always, the Seminole Police Department provided support by taking car loads of food and other needed items to the community. Overall, it was a terrific display of teamwork and compassion.

The building and grounds department donated 30 cases of water, canned goods, snacks, bread, and lunch meats. They even added another$400 worth of groceries on top of that.

This destructive hurricane season has taken its toll on many people here in the state of Florida. The Hollywood, Tampa, and Immokalee reservations have remained unscathed so far, and Brighton has been fortunate as well.

Unfortunately, there's still a chance Florida could be hit by yet another hurricane. August and September are peak months of the hurricane season, which lasts from June 1 to November 30.

Ft. Pierce wasn’t so fortunate, but it’s good to know that their fellow tribal citizens were and will be there in their time of need.