BRADENTON, Fla. — There were no crates of bottled water, boxes of MREs, blue tarps, or bags of ice.
Instead, on Friday afternoon, a Bradenton real estate office was filled up with a different kind of relief for storm victims — in particular, young storm victims.
The office was full of colorful toys of every variety.
“Oh my gosh! A swimming Barbie!” Gianna, 10, exclaimed. “I love Barbies!”
Gianna and her family evacuated from their Bradenton home before Hurricane Milton carved through the state.
“We had to leave because I felt like we were going to die, kind of. And I was scared that we were going to flood because we were near the boat ramp, and it was very scary,” the ten-year-old said.
Thanks to a generous nonprofit from Nevada, Ashlee’s Toy Closet, Gianna and other kids could select three toys from the room full of them.
All her mom, Cortney Popa, could do was watch in tears.
“The look on the kids’ faces. They’re so happy,” she said. “There’s no words for it.”
The act of charity was emotional for Popa to watch because it filled a void Milton left behind.
Her house was not severely damaged by the storm, but her shed was.
“It was a disaster,” she said.
The shed was loaded with something she’d been budgeting all year to buy: Gianna’s Christmas presents.
“And it’s like we’re back at square one,” she said.
But not anymore after Friday’s giveaway.
“Her sunshine came back,” Popa said of her daughter, who selected dolls and other items from the giveaway. “This is definitely a blessing from God.”
It’s also a blessing from a little girl named Ashlee Smith.
“That little girl has blessed so many people, and is a blessing,” Popa said.
That “little girl” is now 25 years old, but when she was just eight, Smith’s generosity was set in motion.
She lost her toys and her Nevada home in a wildfire. Now, her nonprofit ensures kids don’t feel what she felt back then.
“Honestly, if you look around, the parents are smiling too because toys make everybody happy,” Smith said. “I joke that it started out between a fight in my mom and I, because she said they need clothes, shelter, and food, which are all important things, but to kids, toys are the most important thing.”
The act of charity ensures that kids like Gianna have a reason to smile and that they have what’s just as essential as food and water after a natural disaster.
If you’d like to donate toys to help the cause, you can learn more at this link. You can shop from their Amazon wishlist at this link.
Back-to-back storm events brought record storm surge, rainfall and winds to the Tampa Bay region. The question some are asking now isn’t where people should rebuild, but where we should let nature regain control.
