Letter: Chamber should help island workers

A recent Packet front page led with a sad and frustrating story, but it was a telling picture of life as usual on Hilton Head Island. It showed Tabby Walk’s poor residents struggling with the Hurricane Matthew aftermath — not “plantation” tending, but needing a home, food, and a place for shelter and to store their belongings. Below the fold was the story that the Motoring Festival & Concours d’Elegance remains on track. Really?

That’s Hilton Head reality. Many are accustomed to the best, serviced by the poor who remain largely invisible.

Some would say the privileged expect this attention with little or no concern for service providers. Remember the recent stories on the 2.5-hour bus ride for workers to get to Hilton Head? These disadvantaged folks work on our island making businesses run smoothly, and supporting economic development. They cook your meals, service your club/golf/tennis amenities, clean houses, manicure lawns and more. Their children are in our schools with your children and grandchildren. They deposit money in our banks, pay for goods and services and pay taxes.

They are in desperate need of help. They’re running out of money. Who is to the ready? Other nonprofits that depend on community resources themselves, like churches, food pantries, literacy volunteers and translators, child care providers and emergency responders.

The Chamber of Commerce should have been quoted in the Tabby Walk story, saying it is securing free, safe hotel rooms and rentals, and storage and support for the community’s disadvantaged.

Hilton Head will be back to normal soon enough — but the disadvantaged at Tabby Walk? Poor people always lose.

This story was originally published October 21, 2016 at 11:47 AM with the headline "Letter: Chamber should help island workers."