Pint-sized hurricane hero honored with state award
Published: October 14, 2004
So many people work hard, diligently, for hours, to raise money for a good cause, to bring food, to raise a family, to care for a loved one.
Today I will recognise and honour a hero.
An 11-year-old DeSoto County girl who “just likes to help people” became the first recipient of the governor’s “Hurricane Heroes” award Tuesday.
Nicole Golden was honored by Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, surrounded by her mother, other volunteers, and the woman who nominated her, Leisha Fordham of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
After Hurricane Charley devastated Charlotte and DeSoto counties on Aug. 13, Fordham was dispatched to DeSoto to assist local law enforcement and to help distribute food and water. It was at the County Road 761 food and water distribution center that Fordham met Golden.
“That’s where I met Nicole,” Fordham said from her Tallahassee office. “I watched her and I watched people’s reaction to her. I wrote up a really nice summary of Nicole — and it’s all true and I wish I could have said more.”
That “summary” was submitted to a competition known as the Governor’s Points of Light, designed to focus positive attention on individuals or groups who provide exemplary service to Floridians.
From now until Nov. 19, the program will highlight Florida’s Hurricane Heroes, as the governor’s office calls them.
What Nicole Golden did, Fordham said, is work tirelessly from early morning to evening for nine days following the hurricane, in heat indexes that reached past 100 degrees, to help distribute food and water and to direct law enforcement officers from out of the area to local places where they were needed for help.
Street signs and some landmarks was destroyed by Charley, so out-of-town officers needed precise directions of how to reach people calling for assistance.
“Nicole helped us on more than one occasion,” Fordham said.
“She did so much. She was just a really good volunteer,” Fordham concluded. “Sometimes, in fact, we used her to break in the new volunteers who came in.”
In her nomination of Nicole, Fordham wrote:
“Some of the people (who came to the 761 distribution center) lost their homes and were living in tents, which were provided by the center. Nicole was a light in their day as she greeted each person with a smile and a warm welcome, asking always, what she could do to assist them in finding the items they needed. Some of these people had to come to the center daily, due to their circumstances. Each person was glad to be greeted with Nicole and her never-ending smile and encouraging words.”
Mike Vasilinda videotaped the Tallahassee presentation of the award to young Golden and said Golden’s only comment was, “I just like to help people.”
Nicole’s mother Sandy was present and said that her daughter “knows I am proud of her.”
Nicole is one of two children and attends DeSoto Middle School. Her own home was damaged by Charley and was without electricity or water for more than two weeks, Fordham noted.
Another ceremony honoring Golden’s volunteer service and Hurricane Heroes award will be held in Arcadia at a later date. In addition to recognition, Nicole will receive a plaque.
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