- April 24, 2024
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Photos by Colleen Michele Jones
Bob and Suzy Gamblain lost their trailer home in Flagler Beach during last fall' s hurricane. Bob owns Beach Belly Bob' s, and Suzy is executive director of Flagler Volunteer Services. Courtesy photo
Like hundreds of others in Flagler County, Bob and Suzy Gamblain's home was not spared from Hurricane Matthew as it angrily tore through the area last October. The Gamblains' 12-by-5-foot mobile home in the Flagler Beach Trailer Park was all but destroyed, as the aluminum roof was peeled back like a tin can against the high winds and rain.
Since then, the couple has been living with friends, their belongings piled into a storage pod next to the site of their dilapidated trailer, which had been flooded and plagued by mold. They waited on word from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the funding they might receive. The award was for $3,000, much less than they'd hoped for. Between the Gamblains' own savings and donations through a GoFundMe fundraising site started in their name, the couple has put together enough to purchase a new $11,000 trailer that will eventually set on the same site as their old home.
The problem: Between anticipated electrical and plumbing bills and other expenses to hook up the new trailer, there is not much left over. And that doesn't include the $5,200 the couple was quoted for the demolition of the original trailer required to ready it for the arrival of the new trailer by early March.
Enter 25 students from outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, who with chaperones traveled as part of a youth group from Royal Oak High School to Flagler Beach. They arrived after a 20-plus-hour drive on Feb. 20 and the next day set to work clearing the site for the Gamblains.
The group is part of a youth Rotary club at the Michigan high school which is part of the National Relief Network, a coalition of disaster relief workers that deploys volunteers, including students, to areas nationwide identified as being in need of remediation and recovery.
"The fact that I've got this great team helping me out with that end of things is just amazing," said Bob Gamblain, who owns and operates Beach Belly Bob's Sandwich Shop in Flagler Beach.
Wearing hardhats, protective eye gear and boots, the students were hard at work on Feb. 23 when even on-and-off downpours didn't stop them from taking down wood beams, removing the roof, and heavy-lifting major debris to put it in a nearby dumpster in the park. The majority of the students do not have prior experience doing this kind of hard labor but learn on the job and work as a team, developing a sense of camaraderie in the process.
"You're tired, you're exhausted, but at the end of the day you just have this great feeling, knowing these people are going to be able to get back in their home," said A.J. Carter, a senior at Royal Oaks High School.
It's Carter's fourth trip with NRN. This one — his first to Florida — gave him the first opportunity to dip his toes in the Atlantic Ocean.
"It's such a rewarding experience," added Carter. "I feel like sometimes we get in this rut in our own lives and only think about ourselves. This is exactly the opposite."
Prior to the trip to Flagler County, NRN CEO Scott Harding worked with Suzy Gamblain, who serves as executive director of Flagler Volunteer Services, to scout out potential sites in need of help.
"Eventually, she told me her own story [about the aftermath of Matthew], and someone who may need it but will never ask for it is Suzy," Harding said, "so we put her on our list."
The Michigan group will be here through Feb. 25. Another 25 students are working on another project in Bunnell to repair fences at the P & L Horse Farm, a 26-acre farm which offers equestrian lessons as well as horse therapy programs for emotionally disturbed children. Much of the farm's perimeter fencing was also destroyed by Hurricane Matthew. They also expect to complete that work by the time they leave town.
As Harding said, "Many hands make for light work."
Email Colleen Michele Jones at [email protected].
