Capt. Tom McLaughlin, a local commercial fisherman,
had his fishing boat loaded with supplies just hours after
Irma passed. His business required him to go down to
the Marathon area of the Keys to meet an insurance
adjuster about storm damage and he wanted to go
down with a boat loaded with supplies for people who
needed them. Tom, his wife Jennifer, their son, Mason,
Jim Benson from Paradise Exclusive Real Estate and
Holly and David Haynes from Tarpon Coast Realty
gathered an entire boatload prior to their trip on
Saturday, Sept. 16. The boat was filled to capacity when
the left Boca Grande, carrying Tom, Mason, Kyle Davidson
of Captiva Cruises and Taylor Haynes. They
offloaded what they could there and were one of the
first relief efforts in the Keys, as traffic by road was shut
down.
The group continued to collect donations and made
a second trip down to Bonita Springs.
Candy Brooks has always had a great love for
Everglades City and its famous Rod & Gun Club, and
she knew it was one of the hardest-hit areas. After
receiving donations from private parties as well as the
Boca Grande Firefighter’s Association and the Boca
Grande Area Chamber of Commerce (where she is
currently serving as president) she joined with Kacy and
Blake Cheske, Tracy Padgett, Katie Spurgeon, Wendy
Herda, Cannon Wenzel and Amy Prestia to fill several
24 GASPARILLA ISLAND November/December 2017
To see the huge amount of donations distributed
through Boca Grande was absolutely amazing, from
the semi filled with supplies from the Wise family to
the carloads collected by Kacy Cheske and Candy
Brooks ...
and these were just the tip of the iceberg.
cars and a trailer full of supplies. They made a
convoy and took their donations down on Saturday,
Sept. 23 ... but they quickly found out making
donations isn’t as easy as it sounds.
By that time security restrictions were in place,
and many of the distribution centers were manned
by larger organizations who preferred not to take
private donations. After being turned away at
several locations near Immokalee and Everglades
City, they were directed to the Florida Keys by a
man in Naples who received a desperate phone
call while Candy and her friends were standing right
before him. The man’s friend in Key West was
looking for help from any source, as they had none
at all. Eventually the group made contact with a little
church in the heart of Big Pine Key called St. Peters,
who is known as the saint who is a “fisher of men,”
and who represents fishermen. Leave it to a bunch
of fishermen from hours north to find people in
need at a church called St. Peters. Many grateful
people benefitted from the large and diverse
amount of goods Kacy and Candy’s friends had
gathered and brought to them that day.