Pine Island Cares meetings — bringing people together to help islanders
Nancy Cote has been the executive director of the Beacon of HOPE for approximately a year and in that time she has begun Pine Island Cares meetings, for people in assorted leadership positions with various organizations, which take place on the first Wednesday of each month in the Center of Excellence at the Beacon of HOPE from 10- 11:30 a.m.
Cote explained that she feels it’s vital that those who care for Pine Island keep in contact to be sure nothing important is being overlooked.
“Regular attendees are often people from civic associations , the chamber, those who are part of non-profits or just people who are part of the helping on the island,” Cote said.
There is a guest speaker at each meeting, she said, sharing that in December there will be representatives from Florida Rural Legal Services, to speak on any landlord disputes that may have come up since the past hurricanes.
“The other person is Bethany from Care Patrol of Southwest Florida,” Cote said.
She’s adamant that the speakers are from organizations having something Pine Islanders can utilize. Most guest speakers are coming from places useful to seniors, she said, such as a research facility that has medication good for people suffering from any stage of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or dementia.
“They’re looking for people to help by being participants in their studies,” Cote said.
The point of having these meetings overall, she said, is to connect community leaders to one another, in an effort to make sure everyone is getting what they need from other organizations.
“Maybe someone doesn’t come to the Beacon, but they go to the Legion or they go to the Elks. As a leader in social services I know just because it may not happen in my building, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen on the island,” Cote said.
Something that happened at a recent Cares meeting, she said, was that the knowledge that the Food Pantry was in need of volunteers brought several from the meeting to offer help during the government shut-down, which caused a food insecurity when food was desperately needed.
“Everybody brought all these cans of food. They said we donated 190 pounds of food to the Food Pantry, just from our site,” Cote said.
If you are involved with an island club or organization that is not represented, Cote said to email her directly at NCote@Beaconofhopepineisland.com
For more information visit pineislandbeacon.com or call 239-283-5123
or visit the Beacon of HOPE at 5090 Doug Taylor Circle, St. James City, FL 33956
To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email