After the events of Hurricane Ian, Key Club, led by sponsor Elizabeth Kominar, helped people in need by providing assistance to citizens of Lee County with supplies like food, water, and medicine.

“In Key Club, we are a community service organization,” explained Kominar.  “We help the community wherever they need us, like during Hurricane Ian or at our stay-at-home part of the hurricane. We actually help hand out supplies and food to local people.”

Freshman Yan Ling Wu was one member who participated in various club activities, including hurricane restoration efforts. “We straightened trees that were affected by the storm, cleaned up, and passed out food and water,” explained Wu. “Tree planting was the most recent.”

The club was able to stay on track even after the various disruptions caused by the storm. “The only thing that affected us was the fact that for several weeks, we couldn’t do our activities. Until last week,” Kominar explained. “That’s when everything started kicking in and you know, donating and all that other stuff happened.”

Many members who helped only joined the Key Club this year, like freshman Jared Campbell.  “I’ve been in Key Club since the beginning of the year,” stated Campbell.  “I helped out after the hurricane for a while before we came back to school,” he explained.

Members enjoy Key Club activities for multiple reasons.  “It’s really fun, and I can hang out with my friends after school,” explained Wu. 

“It’s a good way to get community service hours,” Campbell added.

Despite not having vital resources like power and wifi, members were still eager to help others in need. “We had enough to do what we needed to do,” said Kominar. 

While Key Club has been working to help out the community, some of their cleanups have been canceled, “The only thing that affected us was the fact that for several weeks, we couldn’t do our activities except for the last week before we came back. That’s when everything started kicking in and you know, donating and all that other stuff happened,” Kominar said. 

Members of the Key Club have shared their experiences during the storm and how they were affected, such as losing power and having minor damage to their homes’ exteriors. 

This isn’t the first time Key Club has helped out after hurricanes,  “We’ve done this before in other hurricanes,” said Kominar.  “During Charlie, we didn’t because Charlie was kind of locked in and we weren’t allowed to do a lot of things.”

To help out with recovery, Kominar suggested, “With recovery I would look at your churches. [They] are doing things for the communities, or reaching out to people like the food pantries. They’re always in need. Some of the thrift stores probably need extra hands because maybe their normal workers are unable to, you know, help out because they have issues themselves.”

Helping people has always been the biggest aspect of Key Club, “Because ‘caring is a way of life’. That’s our motto,” stated Kominar.