Despite three hard days without power and water, 9-year-old Alicia’s face lit up Thursday after her U.S. senator bent down to hug and console her.
“Those children,” Sen. Bill Nelson said after meeting Alicia, her older brother Jefrey, 12, and their grandfather, Danny Harrell. “The hope in their eyes.”
Nelson visited a Salvation Army free lunch event Thursday in Archer at about 1 p.m. at Maddox Park, located at 129th Place. The event was for residents still without power and water after Hurricane Irma passed over Alachua County early Monday morning with tropical-storm-force winds and rain.
For about an hour, the Salvation Army’s four-man crew served more than 100 turkey and ham sandwiches to about 60 residents and prepared themselves to serve a hamburger dinner to more people at 4 p.m.
Archer City Manager Zeriah Folston said he knew his city would need as much help after Hurricane Irma as they could get.
“I have a lot of low-income residents, even compared to east Gainesville and Gainesville,” Folston said. “Their freezers are shot, they really needed food, prepared food.”
The senator asked residents at the event about their stories, their hardships and pain during the week after Irma.
For Harrell, 60, the senator taking time for people in a small town like Archer and listening to the fears of his two grandchildren means everything to him.
“We need more people like him talking to us out here in the woods,” Harrell said. “This is the way it should be.”
Nelson also drafted letters to the CEOs of nine top cable, telephone and internet service providers, including Cox Enterprises, Comcast and Verizon Wireless, asking for the companies to provide rebates and waive late fees for customers impacted by Hurricane Irma.
The senator requested a 60-day halt on late fees in the letter.
“It’s important that consumers not be saddled with late fees and other unnecessary costs.” Nelson said. “Now is the time to lend a helping hand to your fellow Americans.” Nelson and Sen. Marco Rubio also asked the head of FEMA to help restore wireless service to Florida in a letter sent Tuesday.
In Alachua County, 5,191 residents remain without power, which is about 5 percent of Gainesville Regional Utilities’ customer base, said GRU spokesperson Lauren Munsey.
For Marion County resident Ashley Hammer, the days following Irma have been brutal.
Hammer, 34, hasn’t had power since late Sunday with as many as eight people under her roof at any point — her husband, Sean, her grandparents and her five children.
One of her children, 15-year-old Brennan, has cerebral palsy, a movement disorder that resulted from a birth injury, Hammer said.
With one generator running on gas that is hard to find, a low supply of bottled water and dwindling food, Hammer said she’s unsure how much longer they can hold out.
She said Nelson’s proposal to cable and internet providers would go a long way.
“There’s four weeks in a month; we haven’t been able to use our service for a week now,” she said. “We’re running on hope.”
Sen. Bill Nelson chats with 9-year-old Alicia, her older brother, 12-year-old Jefrey, and their grandfather, 60-year-old Danny Harrell, at a Salvation Army lunch event on Thursday at Maddox Park, located at 129th Place, for Archer residents without power or water after Hurricane Irma.
