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Chamber celebrates two businesses seeing islands through recovery
Post-hurricane business reopenings continue to inspire ribbon-cutting celebrations for the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce. On Dec. 15, The Shack of Sanibel and the Sanibel Captiva Community Bank's main office brought the community out to honor the occasions. “Ice cream and money!” chamber President and Chief Executive Officer John Lai said. “Of course, we would celebrate the return of two such important institutions on Sanibel Island. They were both highly present and community-supportive on the island since the hurricane. Congratulations and thanks to all involved. ” Sanibel Captiva Community Bank never really closed; it only suspended banking services for seven days. On
See RECOVERY, page 9
The Florida Department of Health in Lee County will be closed in observance of the New Year holiday. All DOH-Lee sites will be closed on Dec. 30 and Jan. 2. All services will resume on Jan. 3.
Business Notes
Lai steps into past chair position
Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer John Lai served as chair for the Florida Association of Chamber Professionals for 2021-22 and recently stepped into the position of past chair. The statewide chamber agency installed its 2022-23 board of directors at its annual conference held on Dec. 6-8 in Ocala. Along with Lai, the board includes: Tamara Fleischhaker, with the Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership, as chair; Dan Lindblade, with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, as chair-elect; John Newstreet, with The Osceola Chamber, as treasurer; and Tammy C. Bracewell as president and chief executive officer. “I am highly honored and humbled to have served as board chair for an organization of such import to our state and the chamber of commerce industry, ” Lai said. “I look forward to strengthening the islands’ standing and continuing to strengthen the voice of the business community with my ongoing involvement. ” The board is the governing body responsible for overseeing the operations of FACP, whose mission is to advance excellence in chamber management in the state. As chair, Lai led the board during the past year and oversaw its direction in providing development skills for professionals within the chamber of commerce industry. Lai has served at the chamber's helm since his appointment in 2017. He has led members through toxic water quality issues, pandemic upheaval and post-catastrophic hurricane recovery during that time. Lai was instrumental in bringing together the Southwest Florida Alliance of Chambers and in seeing the chamber's visitor center modernized and named by Visit Florida as one of 13 official Florida Certified Tourism Information Centers.
Vidal to speak at leadership forum
LCEC Chief Executive Officer Denise Vidal will co-lead a session at the Florida’s Women in Energy Leadership Forum on Jan. 4-6 in Tampa to discuss the collaboration and mutual aid that fueled the postHurricane Ian power restoration process in Southwest Florida. She will be joined by Duke Energy Florida President Melissa Seixas in a morning session titled, “Reflections: From Tragedy to Collaboration and Mutual Aid. ” Vidal will also discuss infrastructure improvements that were made since earlier storms and how those improvements, along with innovative partnerships and mutual aid, dramatically changed the landscape of postdisaster power restoration, creating a model for future use. The three-day event highlights women leaders in the energy industry.
Recovery From page 8 Oct. 11, it reopened in the main office parking lot under a tent with limited cash services and access to safe deposit boxes. For the next seven weeks, staff was present on the island several days a week. The bank's renovated boardroom opened on Nov. 7 to serve as a temporary branch until the rest of the building is completed. During the days and months following the storm, the bank supported the community in numerous ways. It ran boat trips to the island while the Sanibel Causeway was closed to help employees and customers start the rebuilding process. Staff immediately began working on forbearance requests for loan customers affected by Hurricane Ian and has already approved and processed tens of millions of new loan requests directly related to the storm. The bank donated $100,000 to 13 nonprofit organizations to assist with hurricane relief and recovery efforts. Employees have volunteered at various nonprofits. They have served more than 1,500 hot dogs and hamburgers, often jumping in a bank truck to deliver them all over the island to residents, business owners and recovery workers. “Sanibel and Captiva islands are our home and where we started this bank, ” Chief Executive Officer Craig Albert said. “To immediately begin helping any way we could in the aftermath of such a devastating storm was second nature for us. We were determined to not skip a beat taking care of our customers, employees and island communities. It's what we do and who we are. ” “SanCap Bank helped out nonprofit organizations whose offices were damaged or destroyed in the storm — including the chamber — with the use of office space and conference rooms, ” Lai said. “Always a team player above and beyond.
” “We began by handing out Gatorade to residents cycling or pulling wagons,
” The Shack owners Chuck and Lisa Whitman said. “We used a friend's grill and cooked up some hot dogs, and it morphed into 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, with a high service day of over 1,500 meals. Initially, it was all transported by boat until the bridge opened. We wanted to help residents and first responders by bringing a hot meal and a bit of community. ” Because it was a new build, The Shack — which first opened in May 2021 — had relatively minimal damage. It required electrical repairs, landscape cleanup, pressure washing, refrigeration cleaning and the typical interior mucking. For the community, which supported the business with donations post-hurricane, Ian brought welcome changes to the operation. It has added lunch items and Snow Shacks, its rendition of Hawaiian shaved ice. The Snow Pack specialty couples a scoop of The Shack’s signature custard with shaved ice. “What a welcome addition The Shack has become to the island business landscape, ” Lai said. “Their hot meals literally sustained residents and business owners when all seemed so despairing out on the island. ” Sanibel Captiva Community Bank's main office is at 2406 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel. The Shack of Sanibel is at 1219 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel.
F.I.S.H. among grant recipients
Verizon Business recently awarded grants totaling $250,000 to 25 small businesses in Southwest Florida, including F.I.S.H. of Sanibel-Captiva, for their recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Ian. It partnered with Collaboratory and Florida TaxWatch to create the $10,000 grant program. Verizon reported that Collaboratory and Florida TaxWatch worked with community leaders to select the final grant recipients from the hundreds of applicants and nominees. In addition to hurricane relief efforts, Verizon is providing assistance to small businesses through Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, a free comprehensive online curriculum focused on helping small businesses with digital transformation.
Governor appoints Adler
On Dec. 12, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Daniel Adler to the Lee Memorial Health System Board of Directors. Adler, of Fort Myers, is the director of legal compliance for Millennium Physician Group. He was previously appointed as a Special Assistant General Counsel for the White House. Adler earned his bachelor’s degree from Rollins College, his master’s degree in law from George Washington University, and his juris doctor from Appalachian School of Law.
Lee Health: Report illustrates commitment to community
Lee Health’s Annual Statement of Community Benefit for fiscal year 2021 was recently published, revealing $242.9 million in community benefits by the health system. The report is a national standard of measurement that determines a monetary value for the health system’s community commitment and the financial investments it makes to help strengthen health and human services. Each year, Lee Health invests a significant amount of time, talent, monetary funds and other resources on its community benefit initiative, specific programs or activities that provide treatment and/or promote health and healing as a response to identified community needs. Both 2020 and 2021 were unprecedented years marked with significant challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, Lee Health was able to contribute more than $209.3 million in community benefit in 2020 and $242.9 million in 2021. “As one of the largest public health systems in the country, Lee Health continues to provide health care services without any direct community tax support, ” President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Larry Antonucci said. “Our presence also goes well beyond medical care. We contribute greatly through educational programs and local partnerships with a variety of organizations for the betterment of the entire community. ” Key highlights of the 2021 report include: ∫ Establishing a mobile pediatric vaccination clinic that — from the start of the program in May through September (the end of Lee Health’s fiscal year) — visited 79 locations and vaccinated 1,828 people. ∫ Drive-through testing sites and vaccination clinics were set up at various locations in Fort Myers and Cape Coral and they delivered 167,947 COVID tests and vaccinated 32,950 people. ∫ A total of 3,921 patients were served virtually. Lee Health eliminated the costs of its 24/7 Lee TeleHealth platform to encourage telemedicine usage during COVID-19 surges. ∫ Lee Community Healthcare, which provides primary medical care to medically uninsured and economically distressed communities, added eight pediatric and two specialty care practices, conducted 175,775 office visits and served 53,382 patients. Programs or activities must meet at least one of the following criteria to qualify as community benefit: improve access to health care services, enhance the health of the community, advance medical or health knowledge, or relieve or reduce the burden of government or other community efforts. For the full report, visit www.leehealth .org/about-us/community-affairs/community-benefits.
