Soccer clubs lend hand in relief efforts

By Will Greenlee
staff writer
TCPalm.com
October 4, 2004

PORT ST. LUCIE -- Driving a white Buick LeSabre, Tom Lumex was on his way to get gas Sunday when he came across some hurricane help.

The 44-year-old father noticed sign-wielding soccer players who pointed him to Swan Park, where representatives from the Port St. Lucie Soccer Club and the Miami Premier Soccer Club offered everything from soda and water to tarps and nails.

"For the last three and a half weeks we've been devastated," Lumex said. "It's been terrible. People like this that are helping us out is incredible."

Ron Gilbert, 58, a team manager with the all-girls Miami club, remembered playing in Port St. Lucie two years ago -- and the friendly folks -- and decided to help.

"So we put the word out to our club and this is the result," he said, standing near a box truck and stacks of bottled water and soda.

Gilbert, who came to Miami about 20 years ago from Brooklyn, N.Y., knows severe storms and the disruption they inject into daily life.

Half his house collapsed during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Without power for 32 days, Gilbert lived in a trailer for 16 months while his residence was rebuilt.
 
"People were so good and so kind to us, that you want to pass it on," said Gilbert, whose club also brought 50 soccer balls. "Now we had the opportunity. I said, 'Hey, listen, we can do it.' We went in our pockets, each of us about $100, everything else was donated."

Although the number of cars coming into the park near Bayshore and Prima Vista boulevards was not as large as that at City Center's distribution site last week, those who received a helping hand Sunday were just as appreciative.

With her 12-year-old daughter riding shotgun, Claire Stilling, 38, said, "Thank God."

"We lost the front of our roof during Frances and we lost the back of it during Jeanne," said Stilling, whose sister-in-law is involved with the local soccer club. "This big tarp is going to help us."

Mike Gazzalla, president of the 25-year-old Port St. Lucie club, said the soccer community is close and bands together to help in times of need.

"Their compassion is unbelievable," Brenda Slocki, 39, a Port St. Lucie club coach for five years, said of the Miami club. "For them coming three hours up here, the compassion for us and bringing us everything, it's incredible."

Jim Davis, a 40-year Miami resident who's involved with the 8-year-old Miami Premier club, said that with all the hurricanes hitting the state he decided to come to Port St. Lucie with a pick-up truck and the effort grew from there.

"It kind of gave me a sense of helping out," said Davis, whose home was 85 percent destroyed by Andrew.

will.greenlee@scripps.com