On Thursday, Sept. 26 Hurricane Helene made history going on record to be the worst flood damage that Tampa Bay had seen in the past 100 years. It made landfall on the Big Bend of Florida as a category four decimating everything in its path with homes in shambles from flooding or wind damage and leaving some families close to homeless.
According to The Washington Post, Tampa experienced some of the worst flooding with record breaking storm surges reaching up to almost eight feet. Despite city leadership warnings about the extreme storm surge in a press conference days before the storm, many citizens were still not prepared for the devastation that followed in Helene’s path.
Saturated drywall and carpets must be removed immediately to prevent mold growth and further water damage in homes. The streets of Old Port Tampa and Beach Park were lined with piles of furniture, appliances and toys as families worked to throw out their entire lives to make repairs after having several feet of flood water in their homes
However, there is hope in a hurting communities time of need. Robinson’s PSTA, (Parent Student Teacher Association) Parent President Alissa Ackley decided to take charge.
Ackley didn’t realize the extent of tragedy Helene caused until witnessing it with her own eyes after going to help out a friend who was affected.
“When Hurricane Helene came through it was shocking, the devastation. It didn’t really hit until I went to bring food to a friend of mine that had some flooding and then I witnessed the extent of the damages,” Ackley said. “That’s when I knew that if that home was damaged to that extent that there are many others. They’re [the homes are] right here in South Tampa.”
After witnessing such damages Ackley was inspired to begin a drive to help families in the South Tampa area and at Robinson but couldn’t do it alone. The IB Link, Robinson High School Foundation and the PTSA came together and started to plan a drive that would collect donations to be donated to families.
“It seems like because of the widespread devastation getting resources far from home is difficult, so we decided that the best thing for us to do would be for us to draw from our resources close to home and start our own drive because it was a combination of resources are far away and in high demand,” Ackley said.
While its recommended to bring clothing it is heavily encouraged to bring other household items and toiletries such as school supplies, Tupperware, bedsheets, towels, small appliances, baby essentials and much more which can be viewed on the PTSA’s Instagram account, robinsonhsptsa.
“One of the things that is donated frequently to the large organizations are clothes so what we want to do for the clothes is we want to get in touch with those organizations and provide the transportation to get those clothes from the larger organizations to the people in need so were focusing more on household items and other items that these non profits [and] charities don’t focus on,” Ashley said.
Ackley’s reason for staying so local instead of working with larger, farther organizations was the issue of transportation that many families were affected by due to such high storm surges.
“One of the issues is if you’re an at risk family- which Robinson does have- you may not have transportation and a lot of the depots and the places that are offering goods and services are not close by,” she said. “If you do have your own transportation a lot of [it] ended up underwater and of course if a car gets flooded chances are it’s not gonna be operational again. It’s convenience of location. There’s many of them [Non-profit organizations], but its hard to find something close to home.”
The PTSA began collecting donations Oct. 1 outside in the mornings from 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. in the student parking lot.
To encourage student inclusion Ackley encourages student clubs to help give back to their community one morning and when collecting donations that club will get to focus on their item that they want to donate that day.
“There are so many people in South Tampa, especially South of Gandy, that have asked, ‘How can I help’ and the more people that ask ‘How can I help?’ the more we realize that this is very important and we need to focus all of our efforts on this getting the help that they want and need to the people that need it.”
However, Helene was not the last Tampa Bay would see of the 2024 Hurricane season. Hurricane Milton barreled directly into the Tampa Bay as a category 3 storm and the first direct hit to the area since 1921. While Helene brought pain through water, Milton packed his punch with winds of 120 miles per hour whipping through the Tampa area. Milton left its mark with many as it left 3.2 million Floridians without power in Tampa.
Ackley and her team will continue their project as Robinson re-opens and the City comes back to life.
