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Couple gives community something to smile about

By CHUCK BALLARO - | Nov 28, 2022

Kelly Wright points to her flag, “Dogs Welcome. People Tolerated,” during a karaoke party at her house last week at Tamiami Village. CHUCK BALLARO

The last few months have been a pretty tough time for many as they continue to dig out from Hurricane Ian.

Tamiami Village was hit particularly hard, with many homes damaged and even destroyed. However, one couple in the 55+ community has given residents something to look forward to and bring a smile to their faces.

Tom and Kelly Wright, two huge Ohio State fans, have brought residents together at their home for some karaoke, food and fun.

Kelly said she started this about a week after the storm because she was the only one who had a generator and the few residents who had remained for the summer were depressed and needed help.

They got their coffee maker going and cleaned some cups and started walking around the neighborhood, giving cups of coffee to neighbors at first.

Laurie Campbell, left, and friend Evelyn Reiner have fun during a karaoke party at Kelly Wright’s party last week at Tamiami Village. CHUCK BALLARO

“We were helping feed the community and letting them charge up their devices and everybody was down in the dumps,” Kelly said. “After an hour of shock and awe, we went to work on cleaning up the streets because we were getting flat tires.”

Once the streets got cleaned up and the larger debris removed off the properties, they had a karaoke day, which did really well, so they had a couple more.

Gradually, the word got around and before long, those who had returned to Tamiami Village for the winter were coming to sing and eat their brains out and see what the Wrights had done during the hurricane.

“We had never done anything like this. We would have going away parties for the end of season. We decided to do this once per month for everyone who was hit hard,” Wright said. “As long as people come, we’re going to keep doing it. We just like having a good time.”

On this Saturday, it was a BBQ and karaoke session with plenty of food, drink and college football on the TV. Even if it was Illinois playing Michigan.

Dozens of people came to the house that is next to the community center, where visitors were enjoying the pool.

Many residents brought their pets, for which the Wrights had a sign reading “Dogs Welcome. People Tolerated.”

Ultimately, this is what the Wrights wanted to do, bring some sunshine and happiness to one of the bleakest times Southwest Florida has seen.

“I didn’t want it to be park oriented, I wanted it to be resident oriented. Nothing scheduled, just an impromptu event,” Wright said. “We have a billboard for the residents and within an hour we had 34 comments on what people were bringing.”

Laurie Campbell, who runs a Facebook Page for their community, and friend Evelyn Reiner, kept residents up to date on what was happening in the village, especially this party.

“We are big advocates for our community. Her bill board became a great information piece for everyone,” Reiner said. “We had people asking for residents to check on their property and got the information out to people who were still here. It was a great relief.”