When Hurricane Helene made landfall on September 26, 2024, devastating Tampa and the U.S. South, I returned to my home state of Florida, and together with the Sunrise Movement, Florida Student Power, and Feed Tampa Bay, we raised over $10,000 in donations in mutual aid to distribute in Tampa. In just two days, we rapidly mobilized to deliver food, water, and other essential supplies to those most severely affected and in greatest need of resources.
Community members from all around didn’t have any electricity for days, continuing to suffer in Florida’s extreme heat long after the hurricane had passed. During Hurricane Helene, low-income & working-class families, BIPOC communities, elderly folks, disabled folks, and more didn’t have the financial, economic, or physical means to evacuate in these increasingly powerful storms and their aftermath – and that’s by design.
This photo was taken after a long, hot Florida day speaking with community members and distributing mutual aid. As the sun was setting, I told everyone to come together inside the scorching hot truck and to sing one last song of hope while the sun’s rays illuminated our day’s hard work. Even in the darkest of times, we must always be the light that shines through and makes a better world possible. All of us there, throughout that week, forever and always, all of us continuing to support each other, to be there for our communities, to keep on going, to come together and rebuild, we are the light and we are the hope that a better world is possible, and we’re actively making that world a reality.
