Students assist rural Floridians and gain insight to unique culture

March 23, 2010

Note: This feature story appeared in InsideUF’s biweekly print edition on March 23, 2010. The print edition is a paid insert that appears as the entire page-three of the Independent Florida Alligator.

The eyes of several University of Florida students were opened by more than just sunshine during the recent spring break. The group was exposed to a unique culture while using arts to deliver health messages in an area known as Florida’s “Forgotten Coast.”

A group of students from the College of Fine Arts, along with a few faculty members, traveled across Florida’s Panhandle to the Apalachicola Bay of Franklin County. Jill Sonke, director of the UF Center for the Arts in Healthcare, led the UF team in a project titled AIM for the Panhandle. The project focused on assisting the rural community by collecting local oystermen’s histories, providing free health screenings and creating a collaborative outdoor mural for a region suffering from a struggling oyster industry.

The area’s major industry, oyster harvesting, has been devastated by freezing weather and upriver flooding. In February, Franklin County commissioners declared a local state of emergency. Less than two weeks later, the USDA declared the county an agricultural disaster area.

The conditions have resulted in job loss for many seafood workers, particularly oystermen and women. Sonke said many of the local families have lost their homes or are without electricity or running water because of the lost income.

UF has partnered with the local BayAid program to provide for the emergency needs of the suffering families that number between 1,000 and 1,300 in the Apalachicola area. Sonke said coordinating with the local program helped the small-town community of less than 2,500 people be more open to the help of outsiders.

The UF team immersed themselves in the rare culture before and during the project. They read several pieces of local literature prior to the trip, and stayed with local families during the project.

While reaching out to this community through the various art and health projects, the UF team broadened their perspective of Floridian life.

“The experience has opened their eyes to a different style of culture,” City Administrator Betty Webb said. “It is such a different location and people.”