Forgotten Again
by: Nancy Grable

The news is all a buzz with information about the latest
hurricane, Wilma, and its destructiveness. It wreaked havoc
in so many areas of multiple countries. Prior to this there
was Hurricane Katrina who again left a lovely path of
destruction through many areas. It seems there is no end to
the number of destructive storms in 2005, but lets not
forget 2004 with its bit of wind and rain as well.
Hurricanes galore swept through the US and other countries,
bringing with them billions of dollars in damage and many
lost lives. Yes there has been a lot of news coverage about
these storms over the last two years, but wait! Something is
missing!

Now you may be reading this and going how can something be
missing. They talk constantly about the storms before,
during and after they happen. All over the world in fact.
OK, each area make do their own take on it, trying to boost
their ratings or circulation, but everyone seems to be
covering what is going on. Or are they?

Now granted every year there are storms that strike all over
the planet causing massive devastation and many of them do
not get the coverage they deserve. They become blips on the
screen, or small mentions in a weather section of a
newspaper, never to be thought of or mentioned again, except
by those that were affected by it of course.

This is even more common here in the states. Especially if
it is something that strikes outside the countries borders.
Global consideration and compassion can be quite lacking in
this country, at least on political, government and
corporate levels. There are also those people who are not
aware enough to look past what they are told and therefore
don't pay attention either. However, I do not believe them
to be the majority and for their actions I apologize. That,
however, is not the reason for this article, although it
might make a really good one.

I could also go on about the storms that rip through
different little towns, counties, states and lives every
year, leaving behind anger, fear, determination, loss, need,
and usually a lack of understanding from the rest of the
world, who did not hear about their situation. This again
would make a great story, but I have a focus here, and yes I
am about to get to it.

All these things are true. They happen and are sad, yet they
only happen, in most cases, one time. They may even happen 2
or 3 times over a long period, but this is nothing new.
There is, however, an area of this country that in the last
few years has gotten hit multiple time by tropical
depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes, yet when it
comes time to talk about what happens to the area, it seems
to always get lost in the background noise of someone
talking about another area. All the devastation, pain,
suffering, loss and need get lost behind the pushy self
serving media outlets, be it newspapers, television, radio,
etc., who seem to find it so easy to gloss over, so it gets
forgotten, what happens to this area.

Now some of you are probably going, what are you talking
about or would you just get to the point. I am I am, but you
must know what is happening on the glossy media covered
areas before you can know what is going one behind the
curtain.

This area has been ravaged over and over again by a
multitude of storms that either hit it head on, came through
after hitting another area or side swiped the area with
heavy winds and rain. Yet this little area of the country
goes un recognized because it isn't a major city, a major
area that they can drag lots of gripping news out of. Even
the most recent storms national coverage proves this is the
case. Why you say? The reason, the coverage was massive
about the storm itself, sure, but not about the area where
it went, just like every other time. The area focused on
during and after, by the media, the larger city that was hit
later and with lesser effects.

You saw with Katrina how they left out all the towns and
places that were also ravaged and ripped apart, in favor of
coverage of what went on in New Orleans. Yet all those
little places were harmed, and in some ways harmed worse. If
you do the math that is. A little town of 500 that is
destroyed my seem small in comparison to a city of thousands
getting harmed, but then again does it really? That little
town is 100% damaged and devastated. Yet that big city is
what? Perhaps 60 to 80% damaged? I don't know about you, but
in my book that is much better odds.

Yes what happened in New Orleans was horrific. My heart goes
out to every person it touched and their families. However
that is no reason to ignore all the others impacted by that
storm, the storms before it or the storms that have come
since.

Ok, ok, I have dragged this on and on. Keeping you in the
dark, that is if you haven't figured it out already, where I
am actually referring to. Where is it you ask? South West
Florida! All the cities towns that non one has heard of,
unless they have been there or know someone who has. What
places am I talking about?

Places like ... North Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, Port
Charlotte, Naples, Englewood, Matlachea, Pine Island, Fort
Myers Beach, Sanibel, Bonita Beach, Vanderbilt Beach, Boca
Grande, Grove City, Estero, St. James City, Bokeelia, Punta
Rassa, Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, Venice, Bonita Springs,
Marco, Goodland, Alva, Cleveland, Bayshore, Tice, Olga,
Golden Gate, Everglades City, Royal Palm Hammock, Copeland,
Ochopee, Myakka, Gulf Cove and Captiva,. Just to name a few.


And that isn't even mentioning towns father into the state.
These are just the ones near the coast. There are dozens of
towns just a little farther inland (Remember Florida is not
a very wide state). They get slammed when the storms hit the
coasts, but you don't hear about them either. All these
places seem to get lost behind the stories of storms that,
although they ripped through or harmed these areas, are
ignored in the rush to list only certain stories about
certain places.

A huge hurricane just ripped through this area, Hurricane
Wilma, yet it isn't us you see covered on the news. It is
Miami, who got hit after us and got less destruction. Why?
Because that seems to be what happens when storms come
through here. We get ignored.

In the last few years there have been many storms that have
come through, or near south west Florida, leaving behind
damage. Yet you don't see them doing all the lovely send
them help messages for us. No they leave us, other than the
little that the government and some agencies actually send,
to fend for ourselves.

This has to stop. It is time people actually knew what goes
on down here. How much devastation there is and has been.

Example, last year one of the years major hurricanes,
Hurricane Charley, came through this area, causing all kinds
of damage. The eye came ashore not 20 miles north for where
I was living at the time. Twenty miles for a hurricane is
nothing. The damage was horrific where I was, so I know it
was 100 times worse where it the eye came ashore.

Not long after the hurricane passed, many organizations that
send help started to show up to give what relief they could
to the people of the area.

Do note, however, that we still didn't get major news
coverage over this storm.

Shortly after, less than 2 weeks, storms hit other parts of
the Florida and a few neighboring states as well. Right
before they hit, the organizations that were giving us help
left. This I can understand. They don't want to put their
people and resources in harms way. This is reasonable. The
problem is, they didn't come back. They forgot about us and
moved on to help the other areas, before they even really
did much of anything here.

Where does that leave those here? Who do they turn to and
get their help from? Others in this same area who survived
and could help, as usual. We were forgotten, if we were
really even known about, again.

Did you know there have been 11 named storms (hurricanes and
tropical storms) to come through and/or have an effect* on
this south west Florida in the almost 8 years I have lived
here.** Not to mention the storms that went by Florida on
the Atlantic side of the state, but were so large that they
had an effect here as well as there. And this years
hurricane season is not actually even over yet. No one
expects there to be more storms, but then again, no one
expected this many hurricanes this year period.

Did you also know that Hurricane Katrina hit the Florida
keys, or that it caused wind, rain and other damage in the
south west of Florida? More than likely you didn't. The news
didn't really mention the places hit before New Orleans,
just like they didn't mention the places hit after or with
New Orleans either.

It is this information, or should I say lack of it, that has
me disgusted with the media and all the so called helpful
organizations who seem to forget us every time a storm comes
by.

I was thinking this morning that maybe this time they would
pay attention. It was a serious storm that ravaged another
country for days before coming here (2 countries actually,
but we didn't hear much about that did we. Just the same old
news bites.) You would think that they would finally
actually talk about the devastation in this area and perhaps
how it isn't the first time. Then, when I went to go read
the news online, I found that they did it again. They
completely forgot us and were talking about Miami and other
areas on that side of Florida.

For the record, Miami got less damage and destruction than
the south west coast of Florida did, but they are a major
city so they are the ones that the media will be focusing
on. Again, true to form, we will get lost in the scramble to
have a big story. Even if it means ignoring the real
information. What, we aren't big enough for them? People
losing their homes, belongings, flooding and lost lives
isn't important enough to be news worthy?

My mother's home was damaged by this latest storm. Hurricane
Wilma. Serious damage actually. To add to it all the fun,
about 10 days before the storm hit, her husband was hit by a
car. He was on his way back to work, after his lunch break,
and a car hit him. Now he has a broken pelvis, cracked skull
and two broken wrists, but he will live and is healing. They
sent him home Sunday morning, the storm hit Sunday night.
How is that for a fun filled couple of weeks?

My daughters and I have suffered our own losses physically,
financially and emotionally due to the hurricanes effects on
us and those close to us. It is a long list, so I won't go
into it here.

I was one of those people that sought help from the Red
Cross last year after Hurricane Charley. Did they help me?
Sadly no. I am one of the many people they put on a list for
an appointment to get help and then they forgot about when
they left the state. I am not a person who easily asks
others for help, so you can imagine how happy this made me.
I do my best to handle my own life. So we struggled along.
Doing what we could.

Some people say, well why don't the people who live in these
areas move? Ok lets be logical here. If every person who
lived in an area that suffers from natural disasters moved,
where would over one half of the country live?

Natural disasters, a.k.a., hurricanes, tropical storms,
earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, snow storms, ice storms,
rain storms, hail storms, drought, forest fires, shall I go
on? So you tell me? Where do they have none of these or any
other things mother nature can dish out? Hard to answer
isn't it? The planet is alive and it likes to remind us that
we aren't in control of it.

You would think this all would keep us down, but it doesn't.
The stress on all of us can be overwhelming sometimes,
almost to much to bear, and things almost get out of hand,
but then we stop and start over. Trying to look at things
from a more positive point of view. We haven't given up. We
keep looking forward to a things looking better and
situations improving. Then something else comes around
trying to push you down again. It is then that I remember my
grandmother. She would get upset when something bad
happened, never hiding from it or pretending like it wasn't
there. She said it was important to tell the truth and admit
when something was wrong. That was the only way you could
fix it. She would do her best to find a positive in the
negative. I learned that from her and for it I am ever
thankful.

I am grateful to have two wonderful daughters who, even if
they are moody sometimes, care about others and like to
help. They are intelligent, compassionate, artistic
individuals. We do our best to positively touch all lives we
come in contact with. Even if ours isn't going so great. Now
if we could only start a trend and get more people to do
that, what a nice place it would be.

So next time you hear the news casters, or someone else,
talking about helping victims of a hurricane or storm or
whatever (be it the current Katrina and Wilma drives, or any
other one in the future) really look at where they are
focusing their efforts. Are they focusing on the bigger
places (like New Orleans and Miami) and avoiding the little
places so devastated and not making the news? Sadly they
will probably, yet again, be ignored and the funds will go
towards the bigger advertised incidents.

Just maybe, instead of following along and donating to the
big advertised cause, you could take a moment and look for
those places that are also in need and being ignored. See if
they have funds set up for them, listed outside the regular
well advertised ones, because you know the funds from the
larger well advertised drives are not going to go to those
other communities and people. They will go to the larger
advertised ones.

Don't believe me? Just remember what happened here last year
after Hurricane Charley and how the Red Cross (along with
other organizations) baled on us after the new storms hit
elsewhere, and well before they actually did any good here.

Search the net or look elsewhere to find out if there are
other ways you can help that will actually go to those
impacted. Rather than just going to fund an organization
itself or only some areas.

I almost forgot, be careful how you write out those checks,
money orders and make other donations. Writing "for
hurricane victims" or something else like on them, isn't
always a wisest thing.

Did you know that if you donate to a place, writing that on
your check, they can not use those funds to help anyone
effected by something other than the hurricane? Now that may
not seem like a bad thing, but not everyone who needs help
is going to be in need due to that hurricane. Even in a
hurricane damaged area.

If someone comes in for help because they had a house fire,
your funds can not help them. Yours may actually be the only
funds there, or yours and others designated for hurricane
victims, but they still can't be helped because your funds
are for hurricane victims only. So be careful what you write
or designate your donations for. It may well leave someone
in need, still needing.

I hope this helps shed some light on the plight of those
here in south west Florida and gets those here some much
deserved, and over due, help. In what ever form it may come.
It is time that we actually got the attention we deserve,
and not ignored because some other area seemed like it would
get more attention, higher ratings and more air time, even
when it wasn't as damaged.

I am going to try and get my family the help we need from
organizations again, but I have to say their track records
are not looking so good in my eyes. FEMA included. So many
people, sadly, go to them and lie. This makes it so that
what little funds they had to help people with wind up
disappearing before those who actually need it get it. I
have seen this more than a few times as well.

I saw a woman in a store last year, who I had just seen get
help from one organization (which shall remain nameless)
buying herself a big wide screen television with the funds
she got from this organization. Now she had just been
telling them she needed it for her and her family, giving
them this long story about how she needed it not a few hours
before (I happened to be there as emotional support for
another person who was also seeking assistance at the time,
note they didn't get it and they actually needed it). And
here she was buying herself a new wide screen television.
How right is this?

Then there is a former neighbor our ours who lied to FEMA
last year and told them the damage to her home was from a
particular storm that had just passed. It wasn't. Her home
was damaged by her, her children, and some other not so nice
people the went in and out of it regularly. But did they
check out her story? No. She got quite a lot of money from
them actually. Within a few weeks of her applying and lying
to them, you saw her driving around in all these different
cars with dealer info on them. Her kids had all kinds of new
clothes and gadgets. They were spending like they won the
lottery. Did they fix the house? No.

Shortly after seeing all this, a very nice person I know,
who said she could not in good conscious sit back and watch
them do what they did, reported them to FEMA for fraud. I
can't say if anything was ever done, but as far as I know
the family still lives in that same messed up home, in that
same neighborhood. So you tell me if you think anything was
done about it?

And, Yet again, at that same time there were tons of people
that couldn't get help when they needed it.

I hope this helps shine a light on the way some areas, even
when they are in dire need, are ignored, on purpose, by the
media. How so many go without and have a hard time because
no one thinks to help them. Since they aren't mentioned on
the news, there are no big places pushing for you to help
them plastered all over the net, they don't get noticed and
they don't get help. Please think twice before helping the
big advertised causes, or listening to what the media (the
news included) telling you that someplace is the one that
got hit the worst or the most. It usually isn't the truth.

Consider helping those who actually are in need, instead of
those that are advertised.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article.

I hope it opens some eyes, and gets all the people who are
hurt, like my own family, and are not advertised all over
the news and the net, some help when they are in need.

Want to really help families in need? I would suggest that
you donate to local south west Florida organizations that
help south west Florida residents, rather than to the large
groups that actually forget us and go elsewhere.

* Please note that when I say have an effect, I mean that
they traveled in an area near enough to this part of Florida
to have an impact on the area. Take Hurricane Mitch for
example. It didn't hit the south west coast of Florida
directly. It did, however, come close enough to cause enough
wind, rain and water damage to the area to be added here.

** If you would like to check the information I have listed
here, I would suggest you visit
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/. There you can find
information on storms from 1886 to 2005.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
About the Author:

Nancy Grable is a happily divorced mother of two
intelligent, strange, unique and beautiful daughters.
A resident of the South West Florida coast. The owner
(or staff if you ask them) of two fun loving cats. And
a Practitioner of Random Acts of Kindness.
Like her articles or wish to reach her? You can
email her at: ASerenePath@aol.com
(no spam, solicitations, files or junk mail. Thanks!)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -