My name is Sue Haynes. I’m a 55-year-old stroke survivor which has left myself permanently disabled having very limited use of the left side of my body, in addition I care for my elderly mother of 83, who suffers from Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2020, my sister from a previous marriage Jasmin and I pulled all our resources together emptying her 401K and purchased our dream home here in Fort Myers Beach. This required us to relocate over 2700 miles away, with the intent being that my mother and I could live on the ground floor while using the upper floor as a vacation rental. This gave us the income needed to pay our mortgage and support ourselves on a very limited income. We had found our forever home. We felt this was the perfect plan and life was wonderful. At least that was, until Hurricane Ian came to town.
As we all know on Sept 28, 2022 the Cat-5 storm that came ashore impacted each and every individual’s life in one way or another here on Fort Myers Beach. In our case our home, our business, our livelihood and everything we owned was washed away in an instant.
When we returned to the island all that was left was despair and rubble. Our home island was unrecognizable. Our hearts were broken. We found ourselves asking…can we make it through this, and against all odds we are rebuilding building our home back with our two hands as we can’t afford any other option.
At this point my sister of “55” and her boyfriend of “62” both work 8+ plus hours a day and come home and work on our new home construction project until dark ”laying block, building forms, mixing mortar and doing whatever has to be done for us to rebuild”.
The future of our island, including our own, changed overnight. We know that Fort Myers Beach will never be the same.
Over the last 2 years we have endured it all…. I believe this whole town has shown great resilience pulling together through this difficult time. We would love to have our small, tight niched, quaint little town back, but we are faced with the fact that’s not going to happen.
We are moving forward.
Fort Myers Beach has gone into overdrive, trying to figure out how not only businesses but all of our lives would come back to what we know and love. With this all the rules, permitting and variances being given. The big developers that are planning to build here intend to do so “BIG”, possibly bigger than our island can handle.
Traffic has been a concern since the island’s conception especially during season. This is going to intensify on a grand scale.
The original full-time residents who completely lost their homes are struggling to survive. We all want nothing more than to rebuild and get our lives back. I have reached out to every governmental organization but was denied at every turn for one reason or another.
The most heartbreaking was Lee Cares. In February of 2024, I applied for the Individual Housing Assistance program, designed for funding, low-to-moderate income property owners repair, reconstruct, and/or elevate property that suffered hurricane damage. We provided all the documents they required and completed the application which was submitted and accepted by Lee Cares.
I had met all the criteria, and a case worker was assigned to my case, who I worked with continuously for the next several months jumping through all the hoops they put in front of me, all along being very upfront with our plans and the rebuild process we had been working on for the last two years including architectural drawings , land surveyor, permits, a temporary power pole, fencing, poured concrete, and much more. All along sharing this information including photos and a complete description of the progress we were making.
All the while I was being told that things were looking good and we were on track. Unfortunately, all promises of help to rebuild our home were nothing more than false, misleading and completely untrue statements designed to keep us blinded to the facts. Lee Cares had no intention of helping us. The plan all along was to offer an impossible situation.
I was told they not only require us to destroy all the completed construction, they also want the money we have spent on getting us to where we are today. $79,000 is an insurmountable obstacle as we are barely scraping by and this is only a small part of the costs we have endured getting us to this point.
Needless to say the help never came.
We are coming up to the two-year anniversary of the storm and thus far it has been extremely difficult having been left to recover alone and rebuild our home with absolutely no assistance.
We are asking anyone, our community, our neighbors, our friends, any organization who would like to help us build back our home for assistance. We can’t thank you enough for any help and being a part of our success story as we will not stop and will continue to regain our dream and move back into a home, no matter how long it takes.
Reach out to Sue by e-mail at kellyjasminhaynes@gmail.com
Sue is my neighbor. She is a wonderful lady. As shown in the picture She is literally out there with her sister and with the use of only one arm Building one cinderblock at a time.
Such a sad story I too lost everything in Ian..47 yr resident FMB..owned home 38 yrs..sometimes life seems just so challenging..and the strong like us somehow,despite the odds survive. Best to you guys..wish I could help..but sending you good energy and hope
We are still rebuilding our home from Hurricane Ian and with all the “hurricane fundraisers” ove the last 2 years, we have not seen a single dime. Where did this money go? The city makes it difficult to get a permit at times with moving “goal posts” of requirements!
We stayed through the hurricane and living in our damaged home with no electricity and water for nearly 3 months!
I am sorry to hear all stories of FMB residents’ struggles and trying to rebuild their lives!
I’m sorry about your loss. Did you have insurance on your home?
Insurance is scam. Ask each and every resident or business owner. State Farm is not there , Allstate couldn’t give crap. You believe the commercials. It’s all a lie. Insurance companies are there for one reason. Take money in and pay no money out. Your government would rather send money to a foreign country than help its own. The only reason people build back is perseverance and pride.
So sorry to hear all that you dealing with like so many of us! I too lost my home to Ian and am also permanently disabled and also applied in February and have been approved for the Lee Cares program. My personal experience with Lee Cares has been a positive one. I am working with the HRRE program for a replacement home due to not being able to rebuild. I have learned that the way that the grants are written very specific on the funding and how they are used and requirements. I pray that you get your dream back, know that you are not alone in the struggle of recovery is still an everyday horrible battle. Stay strong, be encouraged, don’t give up!
The taxing structure for using retirement accounts ( 401K,IRA…) is horrible. You work and are told to save yet you get highly taxed when you want to use your money. I hope things work out for you and your family, Sue . Ian’s devastation was bad but taxes and insurance rates in its aftermath while trying to just replace homes are downright criminal.
First of all, I am sorry that you have endured so much since the storm. I also lost our home of over forty years to the storm. My husband and I are retired Lee Co teachers who were integral members of the community. We also applied to Lee Cares for help….anything we could get. We compiled all the paperwork and were told that we were above the income limit. Really? Retired teachers? Never in all our professional years did we hear that. Our local government has let us down.
Hi Jean, not sure if this will help you guys or not but from what understand from the program guidelines and working with them is they are working on priority one with applicants of “income level less than 50% AMI” first and then all the way to priority 5 applicants with “income level between 120% and 140% AMI. They are serving in order of the lowest income first and then goes up to 5th priority. Not sure what level priority they are currently serving. Rooting you on and believing for recovery for you and your family!
same story over and over.. I have been here on beach 47 years homeowner for 38.. I know the priority on who our local and beach government serves it definitely not the residents Pathetic
Lee Cares is nothing but a self serving organization that uses tax payer money and grants to pay fat cat salaries and benefits. Another prime example of government waste.
Sorry you went through this.
I can only imagine the taxes you paid on emptying your 401k….Probably not the best financial decision.