About Us
This rural community, comprised of 70% Hispanic, 24% African/American/Haitian, 1% Native American, languished for over 3 hours in the wall of Wilma, never seeing the “eye.” Instead they experienced tornadic-like winds which destroyed trailers, ripped up trees, caused $8 million of damage to the state Farmer’s market alone, and wreaked havoc on the lives of the people, 95% of whom are at or below the poverty level.
Vanloads of Amish from Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan arrived in January of 2007 and stayed through early March, living, working and getting to know the wonderful people of Immokalee. Volunteers from Erie, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and North Carolina joined hands to reach out—repairing roofs, rebuilding the insides of homes, helping place FEMA mobile homes in place, and saw firsthand devastation that rivaled terrible living conditions in other areas of the Americas. Most of the restoration work is anticipated to be completed by the END of 2008.
As the community struggled to get back on its feet, FEMA, the Small Business Administration, and Project Hope set up shop in the local WorkForce development building along with local social service agencies. Guadalupe Soup Kitchen began serving several thousand meals a day, the FriENDship House was overflowing with temporary residents and school gymnasiums held hundreds of families as they awaited their power being restored.
One local United Methodist pastor, in addition to setting up a tent for feeding hundreds daily beside their church building, received a $10,000.00 grant from Pat Robertson’s Operation Blessing, and gave it to the head of the ministerial alliance to distribute it wherever it was most needed. Out of that initial donation, Rick Heers, assistant pastor of FriENDship Baptist Church and director of Immokalee ministries for One by One Leadership Foundation of Southwest Florida, was called upon by FEMA, SBA, and Project Hope to gather community leaders and start a long term disaster recovery organization.
Community leaders rallied to the call, invited guests came in from other established LTDRO’s (Long Term Disaster Recovery Organizations) and I HOPE began to take shape. By January of 2006 it was obvious that our rural, unincorporated community was going to need a long term disaster recovery program.
Immokalee has struggled because of the rampant poverty among the ranks of the migrant population that makes up the agricultural workforce in the area. Much of the housing stock was in poor condition prior to the storm, and many of the families had no insurance to make necessary repairs. It wasn’t uncommon a year after the hurricane for blue tarps to be seen throughout Immokalee, and many people were living in fragile dwellings that had inadequate or no electricity and/or plumbing.
Another major challenge was that Hurricane Wilma hit our community after Charlie in 2004, the tsunami in December of 2004, and Katrina and Rita in the early fall of 2005. Because the prior disasters were of such large magnitude, resources of both money and volunteers were already being sent to those devastated and needy areas, leaving many organizations unable to spread their resources any thinner.
However, with a number of community representatives, other long term disaster recovery groups in Florida, and the encouragement of FEMA, the Small Business Administration, Project HOPE, I HOPE, Inc. was able to get the attention of a number of wonderful faith-based disaster relief organizations. As of February 2008 over $1.3 million has been donated to assist the recovery efforts I HOPE. Money and/or in-kind resources have come from the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program, the United Methodist Committee On Relief, Lutheran Services of Florida, the United Church of Christ, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, the NFL/United Way and the local United Way, Catholic Charities, Rotary Clubs, the Beasley Broadcast Company, the Board of County Commissioners, FriENDship Baptist Church, and a number of anonymous donors.