Sure, I called Bridgit Budd a force of nature before, but I meant it and I’m sticking to it. You may remember her from The Pecking Order, famous for its classic broasted chicken and to-die-for pies. Or before that, from the Redfish Blufish restaurants on Sanibel and Captiva. Or her seven years at the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce. (Not to mention her longtime philanthropy for Haiti.)
Then consider what this Sanibel woman has accomplished in the time since Hurricane Ian, which she, her husband, her mom and their dogs rode out in the family treehouse.
Immediately after the storm, Budd was up and out, patrolling the island by bike, checking on friends’ homes, trying to salvage her beloved restaurant ‒ and she would have too, but for a landlord intent on gutting the building. Now, like so many others, and on top of everything else, she’s on the long rebuilding journey, this time in a new location. Construction should begin once pavers are in, scheduled for early June.
Before the island was re-electrified, she’d pedal to the causeway to brief neighbors around the country on the state of their houses while drying out her own.