Hi folks
My name is Oli, I’m the owner of the Rod & Reel Pier on what used to be and will be beautiful Anna Maria Island.
As most of You probably know by now, our island took a devestating double hit, first Helene and a couple of days later Milton which finished what Helene had started.
Like many of You on the islands I experienced one of the worst moments of my life on Thursday morning at 9:00 o’clock Adina, our restaurant manager called me up and told me the pier was totally gone.
When a little later she sent a picture that proved what she had told me, it was hard to hold back the tears, I can tell You.
Obviously the hoping and praying the night before hadn’t helped, this had turned into the worst case scenario.
Whether You lost Your home, Your income, or it plunges You into a mountain of dept You feel You’ll never be able to crawl out of, these are the situations we have all seen on TV so many times, but never dreamt of being in that situation ourselves, well now we are right in the middle of it and it’ll take lots of strength and determination from all of us to come out of this.
As Ya’ll will put everything in rebuilding Your homes we are determined to work on rebuilding the pier, that’s a promise.
When I bought the pier last year I knew it was an icon, but after I got to know the team and our guests and they made me feel at home in a heartbeat I realized how special the Rod & Reel really is.
Everybody else knew this all along, crazy, that in a situation like this with everybody having to carry their own heavy burden there’s still so much interest and empathy with the Rod & Reel Pier, thank You for that.
It shows me once more what a great meaning the Rod & Reel has to AMI and I’ll promise to do everything possible for me to bring it back to life, but I won’t be able to do it without Your help, because there’s no insurance or big spender behind us.
So if You can, please support us by staying tuned, spreading the word and if You can funding our Go fund me campaign.
We’ll keep You updated on how things develop
So long, be strong
Oli