Some beach employees out of jobs due to storm damage

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — What was set to be a lucrative season for businesses on Pinellas County beaches may look very different now because of the damage Hurricane Helene left behind.

Now-former employees of popular restaurants and bars said they’ve been let go and need work to keep moving forward.

Matthew Giordano has owned the Candy Kitchen for two years now. Inside the candy and ice cream shop are memories written all over the walls. Giordano said they will have to be erased.

“We’re going to have to use like a mold killer primer on it just to be extra safe,” Giordano said.

He’s open to other suggestions to keep it, but the damage is extensive.

Behind the shop, a car sits nose down in the inlet, next to a shipping container that was originally across the street. The Candy Kitchen doesn’t have flood insurance, and they need help. The owner was asked what their current status means for their employees.

“We don’t know,” Giordano said. “I mean, like we’re trying to be as fair as we can and trying to, you know, do whatever we can do to help them because, obviously, we are all unemployed right now.”

Many businesses on the beach are facing this problem.

Wednesday was the first day Adriana Ruf saw Caddy’s since the storm.

“It makes me really sad to see it like this,” Ruf said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this bad.”

She also wasn’t expecting to lose her job because of it. She read a message she got from her bosses at Caddy’s.

“Hi team, it is with a heavy heart that I am sending this notification to all of you. The owners did a walk through of the property earlier and the extent of the damage is much worse than expected and it will be quite some time until they will be able to reopen the property. As a result at this time, all employee’s of Caddy’s Madeira Beach are being let go,” Ruf said.

She said she and other employees feel taken back by it.

“I did not expect for tons of my friends to be homeless, and only have the clothes on their backs that they left the hurricane in, and jobless at that,” Ruf said. “It’s difficult. A lot of us don’t really know what to do and even finding a job is a process.”

She said this time of year the businesses and employees start to count on snowbirds or travelers, like Susan visiting from Germany.

“Candy Kitchen, it’s a favorite store. I was at Caddy’s up there, the view and the sunset,” she said. “I thought Caddy’s would be open pretty soon.”

Susan, like others, thought that because there is an upstairs to Caddy’s, the business could proceed. But she said she guesses that’s not the case.

“People get the illusion that you’re out here and you’re making a ton. You’re not. It’s not super consistent,” Giordano said.

He’s touched by the help he’s received from the community. Susan came over and offered to help out. He said a child who lives near the shop found the Candy Kitchen lollipop in his backyard, so he brought it back. He also said this child picked up candy in the street Saturday, and brought it back to the shop.

“Overwhelming,” Giordano said. “You know, I mean it’s heartwarming and heartbreaking, I think is probably the best you can say about it.”

Candy Kitchen set up a GoFundMe where people can donate towards their recovery.

Florida Commerce announced Disaster Unemployment Assistance is available to those businesses and residents whose employment or self-employment was lost or interrupted as a direct result of Hurricane Helene and are not eligible for regular state or federal Reemployment Assistance benefits. Click here to apply.

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