WEEk of fEbruarY 22, 2023 FLIER INSIDE
Financial aid Rotary Club of Fort Myers donates nearly $50,000 to Beacon — INSIDE pINEISlaND-EaglE.com
VolumE 46, NumbEr 42
InsuranceBusters.net offering meals at Winn-Dixie By PAULETTE LeBLANC pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
InsuranceBusters.net is a 14-year-old public insurance adjusting firm based out of Texas. Public relations director Chuck Townsend said whenever there is a storm of any kind, the company sends a crew to feed everyone in the affected community. The company owner pays for the entire menu, he said, as they do not accept donations, nor do they have sponsors. They have been at the Pine Island Winn-Dixie cooking free barbecue for four weeks now, said Townsend. “We have three or four big smokers and we smoke
brisket, pulled pork, hamburgers, hot dogs — all kinds of food and we never charge for any of it, we just give it out,” Townsend said. This is the company’s way of trying to help the community, he said, as they have no desire to take away any resources. Once they have fed a significant amount of people, they can begin to do their job. After Hurricane Ian, they were offering food every single day at various locations, he said, but there weren’t that many people coming for food, so they have cut back to only doing this on weekends. “We tried to get out to Pine Island immediately, but
we would have just been in the way of the people doing work on the island,” Townsend said. Once the company reached Winn-Dixie store manager Dan Loughren, Townsend said, they were told the timing was perfect and to feel free to set up and use the parking lot to feed people. Townsend said the company feels that knocking on people’s doors or searching for business by placing flyers on windows doesn’t create the helpful energy they’re trying to convey, the way feeding a community does. See INSURANCEBUSTERS.NET, page 17
MME Contracting LLC helping Pine Islanders get back into their homes By PAULETTE LeBLANC
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
Continuing the legacy of Mel Meo By PAULETTE LeBLANC
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
Bokeelia Art and Gift Gallery owner Carol Garsky knows first-hand how important late, beloved islander Mel Meo’s artwork is to Pine Islanders. Getting Meo’s work into their hands is not only a priority, but imperative, as she continues to inspire local artists, whether they are seasoned, students or collectors. Dan Alvo of Framing Wholesalers has agreed to do the matting, and framing for the Meo prints, of which Garsky will take nothing after necessary costs to create them. New pieces depicting historic Matlacha and Pine Island will be offered each week in the Bokeelia Art and Gift Gallery, over 20 in all, she said, some dating back to the 1980s. Proceeds from these prints will go to local art scholarships in her name. “Mel was such an amazing and giving person. Art was such an important part of her and I feel like she
wanted kids to have the opportunity that she didn’t have to pursue following their dreams,” Garsky said. Garsky explained something particularly touching to her was the reaction from those who’d lost various pieces of Meo’s artwork in their homes due to Hurricane Ian. Various people came into the gallery asking specifically for anything by Meo, she said. “If Mel was here, she’d be helping everybody. She would be moving a hundred miles an hour, trying to do everything she could for everybody. In that respect, this is the least we can do — give them some of Mel back,” Garsky said. Meo’s son, new father Luke Long, was instrumental in getting Garsky some of Meo’s work. Long said he was happy to lend a hand in continuing his mother's island legacy, as people often ask him See MEL MEO, page 13
New island residents Rhamy Emara and his wife, Monika, are the proud new owners of MMC Contracting LLC on Pine Island. When he first saw Pine Island, Emara said he knew he wanted to focus his efforts here, to make sure the island gets what it needs to become even better than it was before Hurricane Ian. “I heard about Pine Island, and when I came out here, I just fell in love with this island. It feels like it hasn’t changed from the day it was first discovered and then I started to get to know the people on the island Monika Emara and I got to see how close everybody is and how much everybody loves the island, how much pride everyone has here — it’s a beautiful thing and I thought it was really special,” Emara said. What makes the couple unique, Emara said, is his insurance restoration background, in combination with his wife’s experience as an attorney in construction litigation. Together, he said, they are able to simplify what people Rhamy Emara need to do. “Our whole system is designed to get people back into their homes, so we want to start progression on construction,” Emara said. For their customers, investigating all areas where See MME CONTRACTING, page 13
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