While the Saint Stephen’s community was mostly spared from the brunt of Hurricane Ian, our neighbors to the south in Lee and Collier counties weren’t nearly as lucky. The Hurricane left a path of widespread destruction in Southwest Florida that will require long-term recovery efforts. With a desire to do its part to help, the entire SSES community created a series of donation efforts that culminated this week.

The Falcons boys and girls lacrosse programs organized a drive that resulted in a massive amount of donated goods that were sent via truck on Wednesday to a collection center at Riverdale High School in Fort Myers. Thursday was deemed “Superhero Day” on campus and students, faculty, and staff donned their best superhero gear in exchange for a monetary donation. More than $7,500 was collected, which will be given to Episcopal Relief & Development for their support efforts in Southwest Florida, as well as to the recovery drive for our friends at Village School of Naples.

Athletics did its part by adding a home game for the football Falcons on Thursday night against Gateway Charter School of Fort Myers. Gateway has not yet been able to return to campus in the aftermath of the storm, but the game was scheduled to help provide at least a little bit of normalcy for their student-athletes and an opportunity to bring their school community together at an uncertain time. It was a good night all around as the Falcons won a thriller, 31-26, and Saint Stephen’s filled Gateway’s team bus with donated food to take back to Fort Myers with them as they plan to return to school on Oct. 17.