MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — It's been weeks since many of our hospitality workers have been able to go to work.
While some businesses are just starting to reopen their doors after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, others remain closed.
But on this Giving Tuesday, community members handed out $30,000 of donated money to the countless service workers still impacted by those hurricanes.
Robin Miller, the President and CEO Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce, said she's proud to be a part of push to help those who need it.
"It's emotional. I've been doing this job for 17 years out here, and we serve as hospitality, as a chamber. It's a lot to take in, but it's about positive progress," Miller said. "It's about helping those that help us. We have a better way of life on our beaches because of tourism. So all of these individuals here service us. We go to restaurants, hotels and attractions, and that's what this is about today. We don't have the beaches without them."
By Tuesday morning, a line wrapped around Madeira Beach City Hall. Hundreds of workers stood in line to get some assistance.
The chamber set up its tents and was ready to hand out two $100 gift cards per eligible service worker.
"We've had people that have been visitors here, from out of state, that have gone online and donated," Miller said. "We've had some companies step up with some pretty large donations."
Yet, of that $30,000 raised, that's only enough for about 150 people; and at least double that amount had shown up well before the donation event ever started. Miller said other donations, like Publix and restaurant gift cards, went to another 50 people or so.
"It was emotional when I had to give the last number out down there, and there was, you know, probably double that waiting to get help, you know, so we want to do what we can. We're taking their names and their numbers, and we'll continue to raise funds," Miller added.
Among the crowd, luckily enough to arrive in time, was Diane Burrill. She said the last two months have been the hardest of her life.
"There's no way to describe it. I've been very depressed for two months. I've been miserable," Burrill said. "It's the most disheartening, it's the most lost I've ever felt in my life. I just felt lost. I felt lonely, even when people were around. It just sucked the life out of me."
But she caught a glimmer of hope Tuesday morning.
"You have everything going for you, and a rug was just just ripped out," Burrill said. You have a job since you were 9 years old. Literally, I've had a job. I've never been without a job in my life."
Dressed as if ready for a shift at work, she held onto her server pad, a menu, and any other proof that she was displaced from her job. Items she hasn't been able to use since Hurricane Helene all but washed away her job, Wahoo's Bayside.
"I've been looking for a job. Literally, the second day after the hurricane, I went kind of looking but I wasn't sure where I was going to be living," Burrill said. "I wasn't sure if I was going to move off the island, stay on the island, go back to Michigan."
Any help that she and so many others can get right now means more than they could ever imagine.
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