Stranded by hurricane Ian, with no FEMA help, our RV was totaled and our homeless family has been living in what’s left of our 35 year-old, now un-drivable, leaky, mold and insect invaded RV and cannot leave to return to Texas.
Every day spent here in Port Charlotte Florida is dangerous to our health, from heat exposure without adequate A.C., to being forced to walk with dangerous drivers everywhere, nearly running over us when crossing streets with walk lights.
Before Ian my wife Anne was run down, and her right leg shattered by one such careless driver.
After two operations she can walk again, thankfully, but is understandably terrorized of walking these dangerous streets, and by big dogs along the way. Our handicapped son Sam and I, and Anne and I, have nearly been run over multiple times every week by careless, inattentive, dangerous drivers, who are a constant threat to life and limb.
Many other pedestrians, bicyclists and even drivers are weekly being killed here, according to the local Daily Sun newspaper.
Our RV was severely damaged in the hurricane, it’s roof partially ripped off on the cab-over, the entrance door destroyed, leaving only a screen door, covered by a tarp (making it unsecured against possible thieves), its engine no longer functional, with only an old generator to keep a couple of coolers for food storage, and fans running, without which we could not survive the hot days. We also cannot afford gas to run the generator much longer, as the meager insurance from Anne’s accident has very nearly run out.
We are surviving with SSI, and enough food stamps to last us only a week, for Anne and I only, while our handicapped son Sam receives nothing (no stimulus, no Social Security, no healthcare, or food stamps, cannot work or even open a bank account, without a state-issued birth certificate and SS# we cannot obtain without returning to Texas first).
There are no reliable mechanics in this hurricane-blighted community, and even if one could be found we cannot afford all the repairs needed to get this old RV back on the road again, and also no longer have enough funds left to afford much more expensive gas for our return trip.
Thankfully we have been able to bathe at a nearby YMCA, but needed shopping for daily necessities — including the use of toilets, as we have nothing useable in the RV — is always dangerous and potentially life-threatening.
We need to replace our RV with a good used one, and gas to make the trip back to Texas.
The locals are less than helpful to the elderly and handicapped, much less hurricane victims, and attempting to get any help from FEMA has been a total waste of time and effort, because we aren’t residents (they haven’t done much of anything for those who are either)!
We have perhaps only another month’s worth of remaining insurance proceeds left to survive on, after five months of being stranded and unable to leave Florida, which we had to visit to survive a severe Texas winter in early 2021, just before Anne’s accident stranded us here through hurricane Ian.
Thank you, in advance, for any assistance you can manage, or for at least helping spread the word about our plight and urgent need, by sharing this tax-free fundraiser with others!
Update 25/02/2023:
“As for dangerous traffic, this morning around 5:15 am I walked to a nearby gas station to buy a paper, with almost no cars on the road.
“As I was crossing with the walk light, halfway across and nearly in the far lane, one car barreled through the red light to made a right turn on red without slowing down or yielding the right of way!
“I threw up my hands in exasperation, stopping in mid-street to avoid being run down, and as soon as I made it across another car — a sheriff — did the same thing just behind me, which made me think he might be in pursuit of the offending driver.
“But reaching the next block where both turned left, neither were in sight, so the dangerous driver not only was not pulled over and cited, apparently the sheriff was also driving in an offensive manner, perhaps late for his next donut stop!
“I’m not exaggerating in the least when I say this sort of thing literally happens every. single. day. Right after calling the sheriff’s office a few weeks ago, to complain about this situation and suggest they monitor the cameras installed at this corner, the same day there was a head-on accident a few hundred yards from this intersection, with a helicopter landing in the vacant field across from our permanently parked RV, with one of the occupants of one of the cars involved unloaded from an ambulance on the scene, medevaced to a local hospital!”