Operation Sister City 2022

Operation Sister City 2022

Written & Photographed by Candice Temple

Every hurricane season brings an ominous tinge to the sunshine State of Florida. In recent years, Palm Beach Gardens has been fortunate to have escaped massive destruction or direct hits as storms churn their way across the Atlantic Ocean. Not every city has been so lucky.

With Hurricane Ian, the west coast of the state wore the bullseye as the storm drew closer. In its wake, a small, rural town in central Florida was beginning to rebuild. If you haven’t heard of Wauchula Florida, it has been known for quite some time as the “cucumber capital of the world”, although nowadays watermelon and citrus are economic drivers. It is a little country town of just under 5,000 residents and 91 city employees delivering municipal services.

On September 28th, contrary to its name, the Peace River rose with fury as strong winds and destructive rains from Hurricane Ian made landfall. Floodwaters from the 15-20 inches of rain the city endured destroyed homes and spun lakes of water where none had ever been seen before. To make matters worse, at the height of the storm when emergency response was limited, an apartment building caught fire and displaced dozens of residents. Several Wauchula employees sustained storm damage to their personal homes.

“We had seven or eight of our employees who were anywhere from major damage to total loss,” Wauchula City Manager Terry Achtley shares. “But at 7:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m. at the latest, the next morning they were at work.” and Christ Fellowship Church PBG made the decision to revive the Operation Sister City program that was created in 2018 when they supported Florida employees of the City of Callaway and the Bay County Public Works Department. Paying it forward, the City of Callaway called to lend a hand to Wauchula, as well. Together, the three entities contributed over $61,000 in funding and in-kind donations for the program.

Support for the employees of Wauchula was issued in two parts. First, personalized care packages were created for each employee that included some basic necessities, a gift card and handwritten notes from children in P.B.G.’s childcare program, as well as from Christ Fellowship. A team drove to Wauchula to deliver the care packages and passed them out during an informal pizza lunch at the train depot.

On the second trip to Wauchula in midDecember, the Operation Sister City team turned the Hardee County AgriCivic Center into a holiday wonderland. Employees and their families were treated to a holiday dinner, and activities like a hot cocoa mix station and cookie decorating. All children received a visit with Santa & Buddy the Elf, where they were showered with gifts collected during a local Joy Drive in the Gardens. The goal of the visit was to allow the employees to relax and receive appreciation for the hard work they’d endured over the previous weeks to rebuild their community.

“I personally believe this is going to lead a movement forward where more cities are going to adopt other cities in crisis,” says Becky Kyle, Ministry Coordinator at Christ Fellowship Church.

Karla De La Cruz & family pose with Santa Claus and receive gifts in Wauchula.

Operation Sister City continues to be a unique public service program that supports those who are supporting their communities. The impact of the program is simple in the words of Gardens Emergency Management Director David Reyes.

“By helping those employees, the impact is a lot greater than what we see. It’s bigger than a single employee or the 90 employees of the City of Wauchula”, says Reyes. “We are impacting a larger community, as we focus on serving those who serve others.”

Watch our Operation Sister City recap video for firsthand accounts from community partners and City of Wauchula employees at www.youtube.com/citypbg.