A Pine Island organization, wishing to remain anonymous, has provided John Bohanek, of Bokeelia, items that will help make his day-to-day life a little easier.
John, in his eighties, and a long time Pine Island resident, had his home destroyed by hurricane Ian. He has been living in a travel trailer since and without the multitude of necessities we all take for granted, over two years later. Only some of these necessities have been restored to him.
In the meantime, borrowing electric from a neighbor, burning through limited assets and jumping through the hoops in order to demolish and remove what was left of the old structure, wading through tedious paperwork, and waiting for ridiculous lead, asbestos and other regulation approval, all in a effort to just begin to rebuild. John spent tens of thousands of dollars that he expected to would go to rebuilding and discovered the funds were eaten up on permits, plans, engineering and more; as if there was anything remarkable about a small home architecture. He is disputing with the contractor money spent. Then he began having serious health problems as could be expected for his age.
This belated Christmas delivery from the organization was delayed because he was going through care and rehab for a few weeks at the VA facility in West Palm Beach during the holidays.
John, a military veteran, is known on Pine Island for his tireless efforts for various Pine Island organizations setting-up and helping conduct their fund-raising. Never accepting anything for his invaluable assistance, John could always be depended upon to help.
The organization providing the items to John wants to remain anonymous. Mutual friends approached Pat Burman, owner of AdandPrintCraft.com, a Bokeelia printing company and asked if she would present the items to John and she agreed.
Pat said, “I might suspect who the organization was, but I don’t really know.” She had to convince John that these packages were not from her.
She goes on to say, “I have worked with John for many years at various Island events and we got to be close friends. We first met at the MangoMania event over 15 years ago, where he volunteered with the parking and check-in of vendors. and also volunteered at the Kiwanis’ “Taste of Pine Island” that I chaired for over 10 years. He was also a huge help at my event, ClamJam of Southwest Florida Seafood & Music Festival. Again checking in vendors and assisting layout of the park, which is a long and tedious job.
He was also a huge help to the Beacon of Hope by hanging Christmas lights and decorating for their “Holiday House” event. John was an invaluable asset at all of these events and spent many long hours helping anywhere he could, doing everything from parking cars to picking up trash, no job was ever too much, no matter how difficult. He was always one of the first to volunteer.”
Pat continues, “Over the many years John became like a family member, spending birthdays and holidays at my home.” Although he has many friends locally, his family lived far away near Chicago.
John’s two story home had been through many storms over the years and survived without too much damage. However, in hurricane Ian, he lost everything he owned, including his home. He is still without a stable home. He has been living in a donated travel trailer for the past 2+ years.
I and my family were so happy when Joan Rosenberg contacted us and told us John was one of the island residents selected for Secret Santa and I was honored to help in this endeavour. It’s good when someone is recognized for all the kindness and help they have given the various Island organizations. Thank you John for all your years of volunteering and making a difference and thank you to those who recognized him.“
(Editors’ note) For all of the talk of cutting red tape and regulations, it seems that in case of real need, it’s just that. . .talk)