Cat of the Week

Those big blue eyes and innocent expression help Henry get away with a lot at the shelter He came to us with a permanent head tilt Since we don’t know his history, we can only guess what caused it Some think he had an inner ear infection, but I like to think he accidentally ate a skink. Our sweet Henry would never have eaten it on purpose. That mean old skink probably forced Henry to chomp him up If I’m going to be comp l e t e l y h o n e s t , H e n r y p r o b a b l y should be an only cat The other cats complain that he is a bit of a bully, but all it takes is one look at that sweet face and I melt. Henry is a 3-year-old flame point Siamese mix He loves to watch out the window, especially now that we have a peacock that likes to visit If you are looking for a best friend, he will have you wrapped around his paw in no time Call Helping Paws Animal Sanctuary at 239-283-9100 to meet this adorable kitty If you’d rather just donate, our address is 10060 Mallory Parkway, E., Unit D, St. James City, FL, 33956 or there’s always our website www.helpingpawsanimalsanctuary.com

Gpia

From page 1 another group has come in, in a time of need We need more funding to keep these going We’re pleased to announce a great partnership with Lions Club International we want to thank them immensely,” Barreda said

The GPIA needs more volunteers, by way of boots on the ground, to keep this mission going, Barreda said, encouraging anyone who wants to volunteer to sign up on the website Disaster recovery organization, Compass 82, has recently been given a mission to assist Lee County with disaster case managers

“They have offered us a reciprocal grant, so we initially put the funding up front and then in about 45 days they will backfill it through those funds, so we can hire a disaster case manager,” Barreda said

L e e C o u n t y C o m m i s s i o n e r K e v i n

R u a n e ’ s o f f i c e r e p r e s e n t a t i v e P a m e l a Smith gave an update on the recovery of recreational facilities, such as Matlacha Park Recovery plans include restoration to the pre-Hurricane Ian condition, not to extend to building anything new

“The county, at this point, intends to

Obituaries

build exactly what’s there no additions, no subtractions So, at this point, the community will not have input to new stuff, because their won’t be new stuff,” Smith said

Greater Pine Island Water Association g e n e r a l m a n a g e r a n d e n g i n e e r M i k e s Maillakakis said since Hurricane Ian, he has been collecting future project ideas Among these ideas are how to plan a grocery store staff; how to plan a fuel station staff; DOT sheet piles that create a seawall; an area operation center; construction and design of a Greater Pine Island Recovery Center, which can be used by the community when there is no emergency; provision of Starlink to GPIA for communication; a radio station specifically for Pine Island to communicate emergency information; a marine port, in the event of losing the causeway These ideas are necessary, he said, in the event that islanders have to deal with the same conditions presented by Hurricane Ian

GPIA contract director Erin Lambert announced an update on some of the efforts of the Matlacha Hookers, preceding hurricane season The organization is currently working on a hurricane preparedness kit to be handed out to Matlacha residents

There will be a hurricane preparedness raffle at the Mango Mania event, for various useful emergency supplies, including a 7,500 watt generator, a $50 gas card, a gas can and extension cords Tickets are $10 each Rebuild Together director of strategic partnerships

Justin Coles announced the organization’s partnership w i t h t h e G P I A a s w e l l island homeowners, as the organization has a mission to utilize federal funding to help get people back into their homes.

For more information on available help, donations, or how to reach a GPIA partner, please visit GPIALLIANCE org