Joe Kramer sings during an outdoor service at Southwest Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sunday, October 30, 2022.
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Joe Kramer sings during an outdoor service at Southwest Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sunday, October 30, 2022.
Octavio Jones for NPR
FORT MYERS, Fla. – In a Fort Myers parking lot surrounded by barren trees, dozens of people gathered under a white tent. It was a sunny, breezy Sunday morning at Southwest Baptist Church.
Service has been held outside since Hurricane Ian flooded their building in late September. The church, which is about 98 percent elderly, provides a laid-back pace for members, with Bingo Nights and Bible study. Robert Walker said he tried a few churches before settling at Southwest Baptist.
“I really like church. It’s healing. It really works,” Walker said. “This is family.”
Walker’s house was flooded. He doesn’t have the insurance or the means to hire a maid, but he’s a retired builder and can use his tools and skills to do the job on his own.
Parishioners gather under a large tent for an outdoor service at Southwest Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sunday, October 30, 2022.
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Parishioners Charlene Grider, Natalie Haney, and Dottie Martin greet each other before an outdoor service at Southwest Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sunday, October 30, 2022.
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“The bad thing is I’m 70 – I’m old,” Walker said. “When I was younger, this wasn’t a big deal. Now, I work 20 minutes, sit for 5 minutes. That’s a big difference.”
Bob Kasten, 79, pastor at Southwest Baptist, said that although the church was severely damaged by flooding, a group of about 25 parishioners gathered for Sunday prayers after Ian made landfall in September .
“These people need each other, you could say,” he said, noting that a sense of belonging is important for the elderly. “There are so many connections in this church, it has become a very caring and loving church.”
Kasten has been a pastor at this church for the past 30 years. He said his parishioners – many in their 70s, 80s and even 90s – put a lot of work into selecting and setting up nursing homes when they first moved here. But now, he said, many are questioning whether they have the means, energy and time to rebuild.
Two-thirds of people who die from storms are elderly people
Hurricane Ian killed 137 people after making landfall in Southwest Florida in September. Two-thirds of those killed were seniors.
For decades, the area has been a magnet for sun-seeking retirees and community – not just for those who can afford private gated communities, but Also for people with fixed incomes.
About 30 percent of the population in Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, is 65 or older. The median household income in the county is about $60,000.
Now, many are faced with a heartbreaking reality: At their age, rebuilding the life they loved before the storm in Southwest Florida may not be an option.
Bob Kasten, senior pastor, preaches during an outdoor service at Southwest Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sunday, October 30, 2022.
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Robert Walker sings during an outdoor service at Southwest Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sunday, October 30, 2022.
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Erin McLeod is the CEO of Senior Friendship Center, a nonprofit organization that works with nearly 10,000 seniors in southwestern Florida. Since the storm hit, her organization has been delivering food and helping with relocation. For many people, the evacuation was too expensive, she said.
“Seniors are impacted to a large extent by being unable to move, being isolated, living alone, unable to evacuate,” McLeod said, adding that people are now getting started. begin again. “There’s a huge number of people on fixed incomes that will pack up and leave the state.”
McLeod said some seniors are couch surfing or living in their cars. She recalls that when Hurricane Charley hit Florida in 2004, many older adults were unable to rebuild their lives for years, while others left the state.
As more people leave, those who stay grapple with the loss of community
Marlyn Skinner, an 86-year-old widow with a walking stick and a devoted member of Southwest Baptist Church, said before Hurricane Ian, she and her friends would take a stroller to the beach, have breakfast and walk along the water every day. weekend.
But the Fort Myers area, she said, “will never be the same again.”
Marlyn Skinner poses at Southwest Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla. on Saturday, October 29, 2022.
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Now, Skinner is in real estate limbo, waiting to see if her severely damaged home can be repaired. But she made up her mind: she wouldn’t stay at Fort Myers.
Skinner and her husband first came to Florida as snowbirds about 30 years ago. It’s more difficult to uproot her life now because after her husband died in 2012, she settled into a routine and community, she said.
“I invited the girls over for a meal,” she said, referring to the longtime friends she made in Fort Myers.
Skinner currently lives with one of her nieces in nearby Naples, and although she feels purposeful to help take care of her two great-grandchildren, aged 11 and 13, she says: “I can’t bring friends. mine here”. She misses her old life.
Skinner is very independent. However, she knows that at her age, relocating and creating a new community will be a big change.
Her family in Indiana also wants her back, although she’s not sure what will happen next.
“My siblings know it’s never going to happen,” she said, “and my kids seem to think they’re going to decide to help me. But they don’t. Not yet.”
Marlyn Skinner poses for a portrait at Southwest Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., on Saturday, October 29, 2022. Skinner’s home is habitable due to severe damage from Hurricane Ian.
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Martha Roth, 72, and her mother, Martha Byler, 90, sat on the porch waiting for an air conditioning contractor to stop by. Everything in the house was damp – furniture piled up, carpets ripped.
Roth’s home, in a mobile park for the elderly, where the grandchildren are allowed to visit for two weeks a year, was flooded by an 8-foot high tide. Despite the damage, she said she wasn’t going anywhere.
“I still have a roof,” said Roth. “I don’t have as much damage as, say, the guy across the street.”
But she still doesn’t know if there is structural damage. The house has not been inspected.
Her house has paid off – it’s the only housing option mother and daughter have, which is especially important because of the affordable housing crisis in Florida and across the country.
FEMA issued Roth a check for nearly $31,000 for repairs, but it will take much more to rebuild. She said she was waiting to get a second check from the government.
Then there’s the loss of community. Many of Roth’s neighbors will not return.
“It’s sad. These are friends – friends of 20 years,” Roth said. “So you only lose one day at a time – one step forward and six steps back.”
Seniors wait for funding while navigating an uncertain future
John Bohanek, 79, living on Social Security, retired to Pine Island – across the bridge from Fort Myers – 22 years ago. He loves the island, both the people and the nature.
“At night, you hear frogs and trees – that’s all you hear,” says Bohanek.
John Bohanek photographed the inside of his home, which suffered flood and wind damage from Hurricane Ian as it devastated most of Pine Island, Fla.
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Pine Island is one of the hardest hit areas in the region. The storm tore off Bohanek’s roof. He currently lives in a camper in his front yard. He said he wanted to rebuild – but was denied a loan because of insufficient income.
Looking up at his uninhabitable home, Bohanek’s eyes began to fill with tears.
“It doesn’t seem real. Your whole life is gone,” Bohanek said.
Inside, furniture was strewn about and a thick layer of black mold covered the walls. The roof above his bedroom was completely blown off.
Bohanek’s son in Chicago signed him up for FEMA aid. Bohanek said he is not tech savvy.
“I don’t use the internet, I don’t use a computer,” he said. “The only thing I have is a cell phone that my daughter-in-law bought me a year ago, and that’s the job of trying to figure out how to use it.”
John Bohanek poses outside his home, which suffered flood and wind damage from Hurricane Ian as it devastated most of Pine Island, Fla.
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This complicates matters further, because registering with FEMA and other disaster assistance resources requires computer literacy.
He knew he wasn’t going back home to Chicago, he said, but he struggled with what came next. Although his heart is telling him to rebuild, his head is not so sure.
“If it costs more to repair a house than to build a new one, it would be foolish to fix it,” he said. He needed to figure out how much it would cost to rebuild.
But then his heart kicked in.
“I love staying here – it’s so peaceful and quiet,” Bohanek said, almost whispering.
