After sheltering for days from Hurricane Milton, residents of Country Lakes Village in Palmetto gathered earlier this week for a celebratory potluck dinner.
Many in the Manatee County senior resort-style living community had experienced varying degrees of damage from Helene or Milton — or both.
They came together over chicken, tuna mac, and salads to reconnect and celebrate their resilience and luck, as no one was injured by Milton.
They also welcomed back newly arrived snowbirds returning for the season — as well as checking out the damage to their homes.
Among the approximately 100 residents in attendance were some who rode out Milton in a nearby Methodist church.
Dan and Jackie Gough of Connecticut had planned for six months to visit Dan's 82-year-old mother for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. They arrived between Helene and Milton, and decided to stay through the second storm, which damaged his aunt's home in the complex. In the days afterwards, they helped Dan's family and other neighbors begin the recovery process in what Jackie called "the most helpful vacation ever."
Phyllis Stark is a snowbird from northern Indiana who has two homes in Country Lakes Village. One suffered no damage from Milton, while the other one lost its carport, lanai, shed, and all the siding on one side. "It would take a lot for me to say, 'Okay, I'm pulling the plug and going some place else,'" she said. "That would be like asking me, 'Do you want to move away from family?' And, no, I don't want to move away from family right now."
