ORLANDO, Fla. — About 80 families displaced by a fire at a Kissimmee hotel Friday got to forget their problems for at least a day thanks to a Florida congressman who arranged a day at Disney.
[ The Unno Boutique Hotel caught fire shortly before 4:45 a.m. Friday, firefighters said. ]
Yonika Smith, a mother of eight who was displaced from the hotel, spent Sunday with six of her children at Disney World.
The gift of a day without worry was probably the best they could have gotten, she said.
“Wow, what a great Christmas,” she said. “After losing almost every he have, my focus hasn’t been on the negativity or what happened. My focus has been on all of the kids and the parents.”
Donate here: Osceola Council on Aging at 700 Generation Point, Kissimmee
“It was good to take our minds off of things,” displaced resident Ricardo Rosado said.
But the weekend getaway was bittersweet after the Unno Boutique Hotel, a place they called home, went up in flames Friday morning.
“As I looked up and I saw the smoke and the flames, I am like, ‘Oh my goodness the roof is on fire!’ And it was devastating,” Rosado said.
Rosado picked up supplies on Monday, including food and a sleeping bags for him and his wife.
Rosado said he is grateful the community helped.
“I'm glad that the community helped out. There is a lot of families that lost things and I'm glad everybody chipped in and helped out. I'm thankful for that,” Rosado said.
U.S. Rep. Darren Soto made it possible for the families affected by the fire to have two nights at a Disney World Resort and Hotel, including drinks, food and park tickets.
As the new week starts, it was back to reality and finding a new place to live, Smith said.
“This is a learning experience, a life-change actually, you know?” she said. “By the grace of God, all the kids were saved, all the elderly were saved and I’m happy. Materialistic stuff, it doesn’t matter.”
After a weekend and Christmas at Disney, Lynx buses rolled up Monday to take families who became homeless to the next step in a process to find somewhere to live.
“I don’t know what’s next. Everybody’s supposed to meet up and they’re supposed to tell us the next step,” said Rosado.
At the Osceola Council on Aging, families met in private with case workers who are supposed to get them into better situations.
“We have a robust team over there waiting for those buses arrive with the goal of long term housing,” said Jim Russell of the Central Florida Red Cross.
The Red Cross brought in other agencies to figure out where to out where to put each family in need.
“It’s heartbreaking. Unfortunately, we see it all too often,” said Russell.
County leaders said they couldn’t guarantee a place for everyone by the end of the day Monday, but with Kissimmee Middle School already closed as a shelter, they may be opening a church to take people in.
The decision is tied to the progress made at the Osceola Council on Aging, which has been received donations to help families.