Neighborhoodtimes: St. Pete Beach to help Miss. town recover from storm

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St. Pete Beach to help Miss. town recover from storm

By PAUL SWIDER
Published October 12, 2005

ST. PETE BEACH - The city has adopted Bay St. Louis, Miss., and will hold a community event Saturday to raise money and colllect contributions to help that city recover from Hurricane Katrina.

"We are in a precarious situation ourselves," said Mayor Ward Friszolowski, "so we can understand what they're going through. We have good evacuation plans, but recovery is something you can't practice so you really need assistance."

The Coast to Coast Relief Effort, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the city's recreation center, 7701 Boca Ciega Drive, will include food, music, entertainment, a fishing contest and other activities.

The event will also include a silent auction of items donated by area businesses, with proceeds going to Bay St. Louis. The items auctioned will include gift certificates from resorts, restaurants, art galleries and other businesses in St. Pete Beach.

City officials ask that people wishing to donate items to Bay St. Louis bring gift cards for stores like Wal-Mart, Lowe's and Home Depot, bedding and blankets, lawn and yard tools, building supplies, nonperishable food, personal care items, water, toys, school supplies, and money. Clothing and baby supplies are not needed.

A truck with donations will travel to Mississippi on Sunday and meet with St. Pete Beach workers in the area assisting.

St. Pete Beach fire Chief Fred Golliner and police Chief David Romine are in Bay St. Louis this week with some of their employees, as well as those from other cities. Golliner, who assisted in the Homestead area after Hurricane Andrew, said it's hard to describe what he has seen.

"This was ground zero," he said of the city, near the Mississippi-Louisiana border. "Their beachfront has just been swept clean, totally destroyed."

Golliner said if the same hurricane had hit St. Pete Beach, it would be "like a sandbar." "These folks really need the help up here," he said. "We're blessed to be able to help them instead of needing help ourselves."