In the wake of Hurricane Ian, it is easy to feel helpless. Everyone in our local community is experiencing great loss and it is difficult to know where to start, whether it is rebuilding your own life or wanting to help all of those who are affected.
When faced with this issue, a local Facebook group, Foodie Reviews of Daytona, Port Orange, Ormond, Ponce Inlet, NSB & Deland! did what they do best, they started feeding the community! While affected themselves by the storm, local restaurant owners began to collaborate with the founders of the foodie group to get out hot meals quickly to those in the most need. Tricia Phillippi and Raj Gohill, founders of the foodie page, began organizing efforts and fundraising. With the help of the foodie community (approx 32,000 followers) and donations made by local restaurants, the page has already raised thousands and delivered hundreds and hundreds of meals every day this week.
Rice Bistro of Port Orange, Don Giovannis Contemporary Italian & Pizzeria of Port Orange, Merks Bar & Grill of New Smyrna Beach, La Diva Mexican Kitchen of Port Orange, Chick-Fil-A of Port Orange, Burntwood Tavern of Ormond Beach and Simply Gina's of Holly Hill have all donated meals, just to name a few of the collaborators.
These efforts are ongoing. Follow the Foodie page for more updates and ways to help!
Norwood's Restaurant & Treehouse of New Smyrna Beach, Bela Lisboa of Port Orange, Texas Roadhouse of Port Orange, South Turn Restaurant of Daytona Beach, Pagano's Pizza of South Daytona, Beachside Johnny's of Ormond Beach and Flapjack Johnny's of Ormond Beach will also be donating meals this week. Do you have a restaurant or a business that would like to help? Email Tricia: Tricia.Phillippi@e-hps.com
*Update from Phillippi*: "Hello foodies, as our foodie community collection comes to an end, collectively we have raised $6768 in monetary donations, in addition $900 in restaurant gift cards between Paganos, Flapjack Johnny’s, and Beachside Johnny’s, and $1,000 in Publix gift cards.
In addition to those funds collected, we have passed out around 1000 meals to areas most impacted from Ormond to Edgewater thanks to the tireless efforts of our restaurants who either contributed time, gave us discounts, gift cards or fully donated meals.
Upon foodie requests
The restaurants our foodie group collaborated with are as follows;
Don Giovanni contemporary Italian and pizzeria
Chick-fil-A Port Orange Gateway Center
Beachside Johnny's Bar & Grill
South Turn Restaurant & Sports Bar
Norwoods Restaurant and Treehouse
Donnie's Donuts(Daytona)-*being passed out Thrs
Olive Garden Port Orange
Rose Villa Southern Table & Bar gifting us with Publix gift cards to pass out to families in need. $1,000
$300 donated by Bello Valentino's, New Smyrna Beach (accounted for in monetary donations)
Business Sponsors
Eco Air Systems-$500
We are overwhelmed with emotions given the opportunity to express compassion, love, human kindness to our communities that were most impacted because of the collaborative efforts of all of you - our foodies and our restaurants!
Please don’t let the kindness end, there’s so much more we can do. Raj and I are handing off for others to take the lead and organize their own group efforts or seek organizations you may find a connection with.
I do have a couple of cool surprises up my sleeve that I will be announcing shortly - and for those that missed it, we will be live talking about our amazing foodie community tomorrow from 8:15-9:15 on Good Day Orlando, Fox 35 broadcasting from Sugar Forrest in Port Orange.
We have spent $3957.28, with a remaining balance of $2810.
Receipts and deposits available upon request. Remaining balance will go towards bedding, necessities and food."
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In addition to the foodies efforts, Angelina Stickhouser, who co-owns Alberto's Pizza Shop of Port Orange with her husband Alberto, has been collaborating with the foodie page and spear-heading fundraising and donation drives around the community. Her page has been consistently posting updates about local community efforts and Alberto's will be a drop off location (in collaboration with Port Orange Community group, founder Anne Ornstein) for donations to help those in need, (specifically school-age children). Alberto's Pizza Shop is also doing a pay-it-forward by the slice service, which they have done before for the community. If you go to dine at Alberto's, you can purchase a slice (or a full pizza) in advance for the next customer and a sticky note will be placed on the window of the establishment. Anyone in need of food during this hardship can walk in and claim the slices from the window. For ways to donate to this cause, follow Albertos Pizza Shop on Facebook.
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While hot meals are vital during this time, so are resources like clothing, diapers and housing. Speaking from personal experience, going through this storm as a mother of a young child was terrifying. The Junior League of Daytona is providing help for parents who were affected by the storm. The Junior League of Daytona Beach (JLDB) operates the only Diaper Bank in Volusia and Flagler counties. During the 2021-2022 League year, the JLDB distributed 36,389 diapers to women and children in need. On October 5, 2022, the JLDB donated 2,500 diapers to the Daytona Beach Police Department to distribute to families affected by Hurricane Ian. Diapers are always welcome, always needed, and can be donated at any time. The easiest way to donate is through the JLDB Wish List http://a.co/5UlvbLe. The week that the hurricane hit was also the nationwide Diaper Need Awareness Week. In honor of this event, the JLDB had five local businesses across Volusia County hosting diaper drives, with a goal of adding 15,000 diapers to their Diaper Bank. Unfortunately, due to the weather and closures, the drives did not collect very many donations, so some businesses are continuing this effort for another week. Please contact the JLDB at jldboffice@jldb.org to coordinate direct dropoff donations, as the JLDB offices were flooded during the hurricane (but the Diaper Bank was spared and has since been relocated to drier ground while remediation efforts begin). The Junior League of Daytona Beach is a service organization focused on advancing women’s leadership through volunteer action and collaboration. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. For more information about the Junior League of Daytona Beach, please contact the JLDB office at (386) 253-1756, jldboffice@jldb.org or on the Web at www.jldb.org.
Those that want to help can donate diapers online or at one of the following locations, and the JLDB will guarantee that they get to a family in immediate need:
Brown & Brown, 300 N Beach St, Daytona 32114 (through Oct 7th)
Pictona, 1060 Ridgewood Ave, Holly Hill 32117 (through Oct 8th)
Delta Life Fitness, 306 N Nova Rd, Ormond Beach 32174 (through Oct 8th)
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Another local organization who has been helping the community for years is the Volusia Basket Brigade. With the holidays coming up and many without homes/regaining their bearings, this can be an especially difficult time. "The Volusia Thanksgiving Basket Brigade is a fun family event where volunteers come together in the spirit of contribution and become Turkey Heroes by creating & delivering Thanksgiving boxes to families in need in our community." Their website states, "We are committed to donating over 3,500 boxes filled with all of the fixings for a Thanksgiving feast to families throughout the Volusia community. We believe that when a community comes together to make a difference, true MAGIC can happen." To find a list of what is needed or to donate a family that need helps, visit their website.
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After hearing about all of these amazing organizations coming together for the community, it is natural to want to pitch in and help. Here's how you can help/here are a list of resources if you or someone you know need help! (This list will be updated as information is sent in). The images below were shared on community pages on Facebook and contain information within each individual image. These drives are organized by local members of the community:
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I love this community! Being able to witness all of this makes my heart full and I am so proud to be a Volusia County resident. In the aftermath of so much devastation, it is so beautiful to watch everyone pull together. Thank you to all of those who are showing our community how strong we are!
*If you have a resource that you want added to the list, please email me at mackiddaytonabeach@macaronikid.com*
Sending love to all of those in our local community and beyond!
-Savannah Kater, Macaroni KID Daytona Beach FL
*For Information about local efforts and resources in West Volusia, read this article By Danielle Brogan, publisher of Mac KID West Volusia - Deltona, F*
