Gallery Of The Week: ‘Racing To Rebuild’ Fort Myers Beach Donation Presented

Although an announcement was made a couple of weeks after the Speed On The Water Key West Bash—held last year on November 10 during the Race World Offshore-produced Offshore World Championships in Key West, Fla., and the Florida Powerboat Club’s Key West Poker Run—that the ninth annual event raised more than $105,000, $41,000 of which was earmarked for Hurricane Ian recovery efforts in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., the #WeAreFMB Resilient fund money was presented on Monday.

Shaun Torrente, left, and Geoff Tomlinson, right, present the $41,265 in donations collected through the Speed On The Water 2022 Key West Bash presented by CMR Construction and Roofing to Mari Torgerson and Dawn Thomas of the Fort Myers Beach Woman’s Club. Photo courtesy Flavia Torrente

Gathering in a Fort Myers Beach neighborhood wrought by damage from the late-September hurricane, two members of the non-profit Fort Myers Beach Woman’s Club, Dawn Thomas and Mari Torgerson, accepted the $41,265 donation from Shaun Torrente of Shaun Torrente Racing and Geoff Tomlinson of Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats, representatives of the two locally based companies that chipped in matching $2,500 donations for the Key West Bash, which was presented by CMR Construction and Roofing.

Based in Naples, Fla., CMR matched the $2,500 donation as did Powerboat P1, Race World Offshore and Speedonthewater.com. WHM Motorsports owner Billy Mauff also stepped up during the party to pledge a $10,000 donation to assist Fort Myers Beach, a community the native New Yorker adores, through the #WeAreFMB Resilient fund organized by the Fort Myers Beach Women’s Club and the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation.

“The Fort Myers Beach Women’s Club truly wants to thank speedonthewater.com and the companies that supported its fundraising efforts for the generous donation of $41,265,” Thomas said after walking the neighborhood Monday morning with Tomlinson and Torrente, who was joined by his wife, Flavia. “We truly appreciate the generosity. Currently we have given out $570,000 directly to local residents affected by the hurricane. It’s because of people like the powerboat community and so many others that the island is going to rebuild and come back better than before.”

Tomlinson, who is thankful to work for a company that takes giving back to its community seriously (see the related Nor-Tech stories below), said it was clear that there is still a lot of work to be done to get Fort Myers Beach and the surrounding communities back on track. He shared a handful of images, one of which included a boat stuck on someone’s driveway, from their walk around the neighborhood.

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Check out the slideshow above for several images courtesy of Geoff Tomlinson.

Thomas said they took the group picture with the check, which was provided by Ryan Beckley of Kinetic Animation, in front of one of her neighbor’s houses, or at least what was left of it.

“Shaun and Flavia were blown away that there were still boats in people’s yards,” Thomas said. “I mean we’re getting there, but it’s going to take time. The good news is that everyday something new is happening around here.”

Of course, Thomas and Torgerson are still taking donations if anyone wants to contribute to the #WeAreFMB Resilient fund.