Savor the Shore is an initiative encouraging people to visit and spend money in rebuilding coastal communities.
"Our businesses really need the help," Pasquale Russo co-owner of Tutti Pazzi Italian Kitchen said.
The restaurant on Sanibel island incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage from Hurricane Ian. It's money they spent to reopen their doors.
"It was a blessing we were able to open when we did," co-owner Leanna Russo said.
20 miles further up the road on Captiva Island, Nehru Williams managing RC Otters Island Eats knows exactly the difficulty presented by having to rebuild.
"On the day of the hurricane, we decided that we’re gonna make that call. The owner decided we would shut it down, we got everything prepared with sandbags. We decided we would evacuate the island," Williams said.
RC Otters opened in late June and recently celebrated with a ribbon cutting, but there’s work left to do.
"Tourism on Captiva still has a long way to go," Williams said.
The Visitor and Convention Bureau (VCB) is working to speed up the process.
“There are no resident tax dollars being used for this campaign," Dotson says, rather the money will come from the tourism tax," Miriam Dotson, Communications Manager with the Lee County VCB said.
It’s Savor the Shore program is trying something new this year so these businesses can start a new chapter.
It’s spending advertising dollars locally instead of out of state to remind people to support these businesses.
