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Hundreds of Bonita Springs residents forge temporary homes at Estero park
LIANE SMITH
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BONITA SPRINGS — Heidy Paz-Domingo, 15, found a donated green cowboy hat to keep her little brother, 11-month-old J.J. Paz-Domingo cool from the sweltering heat. She just returned to school at Estero High Tuesday, since evacuating from her home in Manna Christian. She said she likes the shelter and thinks everything is going good. But she’s getting homesick.
“I miss my bed,” she said.
Paz-Damingo and her family are among the more than 450 evacuees now living at Estero Community Park, off Corkscrew Road. Most people at the converted shelter are Hispanic, about two-thirds are children, Red Cross shift manager Jan George, of Bonita Springs, said.
“The kids seem to be in good spirits,” she added.
Overall, most evacuees seemed in good spirits this week considering they left water-logged homes and streets in east Bonita.
The Estero park, usually a quiet spot to recreate, swarmed with families waiting in line for donations and food, while volunteers shuffled around crazily to help out where needed.
Inside the park’s gymnasium, usually an ideal spot for a pick-up game of basketball, hundreds of green cots lined the floors for evacuees. The park has canceled all programs for the time being except Club Rec and a few classes that require use of the facility.
Floodwaters from the Imperial River basin measured a 35-year record discharge as of Monday, higher than the notable flood in 1995 in the area when evacuations lasted more than eight weeks.
The evacuees are fed three meals a day from various catering services, and the requests have so far been for more Hispanic food.
Most of the evacuated children hop on busses that have been rerouted to take them to school in the morning, after being served a free breakfast. Moms stay at the shelter with their tots and the men head off to work for the day. When kids get back from school, New Horizons Super Kids Club sends employees to help the students complete their homework in a quiet room of the park that has tables and chairs. The program usually works at Manna Christian, one of the evacuated RV parks in Bonita.
New Horizons founder Ellen Nichols said: “For the children, it’s so critical to have continuity.”
The park has televisions, playrooms, games and other amenities to keep the evacuated guests from being bored.
Maria Jose, 22, who lives on Oakland Drive, came to the shelter with her husband and three children with nothing more than some clothes for her four-month-old. The family wasn’t planning to leave until a neighbor told them about the shelter at Estero Community Park.
“There was too much water,” Jose said through a translator. She and her husband tried to go back to check damage at their home but by that time the water was insurmountable. As the days pass by, she tells the translator she’s worried because they left all their belongings in their home and someone might take the evacuation as an opportunity to pilfer.
In the meantime, the Red Cross had everyone write out wish lists of things they needed, aside from the essentials they have already received: toothbrushes, blankets, baby wipes, soap and clothes.
A lot of those donations are coming in by the bundle from the Salvation Army, area churches and the Bonita Springs YMCA.
Liz Luna, from the YMCA, said their organization planned to have a garage sale fundraiser this weekend but instead brought all the goods to donate to the flood evacuees.
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"The evacuees are fed three meals a day from various catering services, and the requests have so far been for more Hispanic food." Maybe Taco Bell could be persuaded to be the caterer of choice.
#1 Posted by ravenhawk on August 29, 2008 at 5:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hi Skip,
Taco Bell isn't really Mexican food. Maria's on Old 41 is going to help out.
The people at the Estero Comm. Ctr are really grateful and remaining very calm considering that they have lost the little they have worked so hard for.
I don't know if I could take staying at a shelter on a cot with 400 others in one room. I am a picky eater too. LOL I'd probably try ordering ala carte.
If anyone wants to help, check the local TV websites and you can find locations/banks where you can donate. This is going to be a long haul.
#2 Posted by MarthaSimons on August 30, 2008 at 1:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
#3 Posted by Bullbat on August 30, 2008 at 3:57 a.m.
lololol, i guess the truth hurts,,,,but at least they removed the other one too,,,,,,,LOLOL
#4 Posted by Bullbat on August 30, 2008 at 12:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Taco Bell isn't really Mexican food. Maria's on Old 41 is going to help out." Hmmm, in checking this out on Wikipedia.com,it seems that Taco, Enchilada,Tortilla,Quesadilla, etc. are in fact traditional food dishes which originated in Mexico. Yep, it wiil be a long haul indeed. My daughter and family was displaced by the flooding so I know fully well what many ( includind myself ) are going through. Point is, If I were in a position where I had nothing to eat or a place to stay, I would not be picky when it comes to free food. In summary, if you have your health, you have just about everything. Some people do not have it that good. Martha, call me, return my call, whatever. I need to discuss something with ya.
#5 Posted by ravenhawk on August 30, 2008 at 12:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
the local car/truck dealerships had a Big sales spike in 1995 when we flooded,,, there were more new trucks and cars in East Bonita,than you could shake a stick at,,, but if you tried to ask one of the owners where they got that fancy new truck, you Better know how to speaky spany,,,because none of them could speaky englay,,, i had a friend that worked at the Ford place in Naples,and he said that almost all of them that bought trucks/cars There, paid cash,, and it was the money that the poor hispanics recieved from Our Government,because they were flooded out in trailer parks in East Bonita,and the area in Chapman st ,,,and the blocks there,,, this is free money to them,,,
#6 Posted by Bullbat on August 30, 2008 at 2:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Do they have no shame. Its always gimme, gimme, gimme.They all need to be deported. T hey recieve housing, food stamps, free medical, live 20 to a house, gold jewelry, new ford trucks, free schooling,Obama and mcamnesty will give them amnesty wether they are crimanals or not.Please go to numbersusa and wehategringos.com.Please help fight to take this country back. Democrates want them for the votes republicans want them for the cheap slave labor.Do you not care about all the crimes being commited every day on american citizens?16 people a day are killed by illegals. WAKE UP PEOPLE,
#7 Posted by lassie on September 1, 2008 at 11:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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