Pine Island FISH Back to School Fair a huge success
The first Pine Island FISH Back to School Fair, which featured the distribution of the 22nd annual FISH Clothing for Kids program, offering clothing and gym shoes to students whose families anticipate having difficulty in providing new items for the 2022-2023 school year, has been called a huge success. A total of 219 children were registered for the program this year.
This year the program was expanded to a Back to School Fair format featuring many health and wellness products and services available in SWFL to island children. In addition to receiving their clothing and gift cards, each child received hygiene products, including dental kits from Riverside Dental and Florida KidCare with additional resource information in their bag.
Families were encouraged to bring their kids and walk through the stations with the opportunity for free immunizations as well as hearing and vision tests from the State of Florida Department of Health in Lee County. Participants also learned about a variety of services and resources from Lee Health and Golisano Children’s Hospital of SW Florida including Injury Prevention and Healthy Life Center navigation for physician appointments. Other highlights included free bicycle helmets from the Blue Zone Project of SWFL, school supplies, a vitals health check from the Matlacha Pine Island Fire Department, as well as stickers and safety information from Reunite with Lee County United Way and the Lee County Sherriff’s Community Response Unit.
In addition, the Pine Island Library was offering free books and library card sign up, Beacon of Hope shared its services, Pine Island United Methodist Church showcased its free Kid’s Clothing Room and signups for Vacation Bible School and the Pine Island Elementary Backpack program, along with fresh produce and food boxes on hand for all families to pick up.
Karen Durand, FISH Basket Brigade Chair, would like to thank the many islanders and corporate sponsors who donated and adopted children in this year’s program.
“With a 30 percent increase in clothing and shoe requests versus last year, it is only with the continued generosity of our islanders that we can continue to implement this program year after year. The expanded program was the result of the Pine Island FISH Board asking what else we can do to help prepare our children for school, in addition to clothing and shoes. From there it was a matter of identifying and contacting available resources in SWFL. We were thrilled with the response, much of which was coordinated by the Lee Health Community Benefit Outreach Department and our island partners. This year’s expanded program was very well received by both our clients and participating agencies. With everyone excited to come back next year and potentially participate in additional Basket Brigade programming this fall, we see many opportunities to offer additional resources to our islanders moving forward,” Durand said.
Pine Island FISH (Fellow Islanders Sending Help) is a 501c3 nonprofit and all-volunteer association of neighbors organized to help those living in the Matlacha and Pine Island Communities. Pine Island FISH offers the following services: non-emergency transportation to medical facilities, grocery stores, pharmacy, bank, to those with no access to transportation; mobility equipment lending: wheelchairs, walkers, assistance with special needs: emergency financial assistance for rent, utilities, medical costs, respite resource information and is the lead agency in the Pine Island “Basket Brigade” programs.
There is no charge for FISH services, however, equipment and monetary donations are welcome. For more information about the organization, visit the website at www.pineislandfish.org.