PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Shawna Nelson is a self-proclaimed "BMX Mom" who travels around the country with her daughter, Ella, and dog, Oakley. This weekend, Nelson, a Connecticut native, drove to Oldsmar for the Gator Nationals event held at the Oldsmar Sports Complex. She's also using the road trip to help victims of Hurricane Ian in a big way.
She decided to load her pick-up truck and a trailer full of supplies for those hit hardest by last week's storms.
"We would find one or two families to help out with some food and water and clothing- and have it just be that," Nelson said Friday morning. "Then it got out on social media, more media coverage. And then it turned into me bringing a trailer. And now we’re filling both the truck and the trailer for this weekend."
Nelson's trip took a little longer than expected. What's normally an 18-hour drive took 28 after a blown tire on the trailer burned a hole in the trailer itself. But nine repairs later, Shawna made it to the track.
"In this small athletic community, your friend's kids become your kids. You cheer when they’re on the track," Nelson added. "You know them from doing staging. It doesn’t matter what state they’re from or what team they ride for. This storm impacted our family. So when we were coming down here, I decided to use the opportunity to do what I could to help our people."
Largo-based J&R Bicycles already had a massive tent space set up on the infield of the track. It proved to be the perfect spot for hosting a collection area for anyone who wants to fill the trailer with supplies.
"We were super-lucky that we didn’t have the impact that south Florida had," said J&R COO Delaney Morrison. "Guilty, almost, because we were more prepared than for what they thought. So we had our marketing team send out Facebook posts and email blasts and had our team managers spread the word to collect here at a race. BMX is a super-close-knit family. And I’m certain that we’ll fill this trailer before it heads down to Cape Coral."
North Fort Myers native and J&R racer Wayne Hardman moved his family out of their house after Hurricane Ian brought four feet of water inside of it. And it was his bicycle family that was right there when he needed them the most. They brought over a camper for the family to use while they waited for everything to dry out.
"It was definitely a blessing. And it was some BMX friends that we met through BMX. They brought it right over to us. No questions asked," Hardman said with a smile. "Left it for us, said use it as long as we have to. Everybody’s getting to know their neighbors a little bit better. Everybody’s helping everybody in our neighborhood. So, it’s nice."
It's nice to have people like Shawna Nelson in the wake of a hurricane. People who treat everyone like family.
"It’s just about being a good person. It’s an important behavior for me to model as a parent," she said. "To be able to have other people see that this is a real thing. It can happen with minimal coordination… and you can make some really big impacts."
Nelson also added that she likes to live by a quote made famous by Winston Churchill.
"You make a living by what you get and a life by what you give."
The Gator Nationals run through Sunday afternoon at the Oldsmar Sports Complex.
For more information, visit the BMX USA website and the J&R Facebook page.
