Community, non-profits help hurricane survivors after fire at Lakeland hotel
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LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Hurricane Milton survivors, who abruptly lost their FEMA-assisted housing last week, have all been relocated, some thanks to a local church and non-profit organization.

“With [the community’s] help, there is hope,” said Mariah Brooks.

For now, hotel rooms are home for Brooks, her partner, Scott, and their five children.

“When Milton hit, it completely caved my roof in, flooded my home and it took everything from us,” she said.

She said her landlord sold the property and they were suddenly homeless.

FEMA placed their family, along with 45 other households, at the Imperial Swan Hotel in Lakeland.

“It can get a little hectic and a little chaotic. Even something as simple as a room, you try to make into a home, put up a Christmas tree,” said Brooks.

Last week, after a fire at the hotel, the fire marshal deemed the hotel uninhabitable due to code violations.

According to a press release, the Lakeland Fire Department was aware of the violations and was working with the property owners to address them.

The hotel cannot be reopened until the property is brought into compliance.

Brooks said she got some of her belongings out and then faced dead-ends.

“I had nowhere to turn to, honestly, when FEMA wasn’t helping with the extensions and pushing it through, I was in a moment of disarray. I had no idea what I was going to do that night,” she said.

Then she met Kay Kasser, who went to the hotel to help after receiving phone calls about people in desperation.

Kasser is the director of Combee Connection Ministries and Church.

“Christians aren’t here to be sitting in a church. We’re here to do what Jesus did when he was here. We’re here to help other people,” said Kasser.

Kasser was able to help find hotels for Brooks and her family, another family and a nurse who had just moved to the area and lost everything.

Kasser worked alongside the United Way of Central Florida, FEMA, GiveWell, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Talbot House Ministries, and city and county leaders to find temporary housing for everyone affected.

“This was a perfect example of when city, county and national government come together, with nonprofit support, positive change can come about in an awful and very complicated situation- everyone present had good intents for what is best for our community,” wrote United Way of Central Florida President & CEO Christina Criser Jackson in a statement.

Kasser said she is still working to help Brooks and other victims.

On Tuesday, donations helped Brooks and her partner fix their car and they are working to find housing past Wednesday.

Brooks is awaiting an extension from FEMA.

Kasser, who started her ministry after helping to organize aid after Hurricane Irma, said she is driven by faith.

“Love people and take care of people. Meet the needs if we have the ability to do so,” she said.

Donations can be made to Combee Connection on their website.

People displaced from Imperial Swan Hotel can text 407-669-9000 to verify their stay and arrange the retrieval of any remaining belongings.

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