It wasn't the first time.  Or the second.  

In the few short months since Joe Gertis purchased Irene's Lounge, a landmark roadside tavern in Tavares, his business has been vandalized multiple times with gay epithets.  He also received a hate letter.  

Last Thursday vandals struck again.  In  the early morning hours, the exterior of the business and its patio furniture was boldly slapped with yellow paint although security cameras are affixed to the building.   Misspelled slurs were painted on the walls so there wouldn't be any mistake of the hate crime.  

A cross-section of residents went into action encouraging the community to come together to help clean up the mess and provide support.   While Gertis was away, local residents collected donations for paint and supplies and a compassionate crew arrived to paint the building.  By the time the owner returned, the epithets had been covered.  Gertis was clearly overwhelmed and grateful.

In addition to the paint and supplies, donations also came in the form of money, free advertising and a mural.  Norm Rinne, artist and owner of Norm's Pallete wine bar in downtown Mount Dora, will paint a mural to cover the vandalized walkway in November.   Some neighboring Mount Dora candidates also made donations to show their community support for diversity.

Irene's wlll be closed for the next several days for pre-scheduled improvements. Residents wishing to send a message to the vandals can stop in for a beer upon the lounge's reopening.   Irene's Lounge is located at 14942 Old US Highway 441 in Tavares.

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The action was swift, much like the rising waters in South Carolina caused by the 1000-year rain.

Mount Dora resident and Columbia, South Carolina native, Lauren Graham Cunningham, felt compelled to help.  The hardest hit area in Columbia is the place of Cunningham's childhood memories.  The victims are her old classmates.  Although she moved away years ago, the established local artist still converses in a Southern accent that indicates where her heart is firmly rooted. 

Cunningham had a Jeep for sale at the time of the floods and watched as many of the victims had absolutely nothing while she remained fortunate.    At that point, Cunningham quickly decided to donate the vehicle to a South Carolina flood victim she's known since childhood.  The artist credits, Mount Dora friends, Jonni Vermulen and Patti Thompson with the idea of filling the Jeep with donated goods and supplies before its departure.   The three women quickly spread the word and the response was overwhelming.    When the Jeep left for South Carolina last Friday, it was stuffed to the roof with donations.  

"I've bawled like a baby all week. First out of shear sadness for people I love and then out of the joy of those giving so generously that I also love," said Cunningham.

It's compassion, generosity and swift action like this that makes Mount Dora such a wonderful place.

Residents that missed this effort, but would like to know how to help the victims of the South Carolina floods can click here.

​For more news for Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis, click here.