From Hurricane Recovery to Healing Through Handwritten Cards, One City’s Kindness Helped Spark a Movement

Gulfport has always known how to show up for each other. After Hurricanes Helene and Milton swept through in 2024, the community didn’t just rebuild, it listened, reached out, and lifted up its neighbors. Stories were gathered for a community book-in-progress honoring that resilience. Artists reopened studios, shop owners hosted recovery fundraisers, and local leaders reminded residents that healing takes more than time, it takes each other.

That same spirit lives at the heart of WondrVoices.

When this project was just an idea, it was the Gulfport Merchants Chamber that gave us space to begin. We set up at farmers markets and art walks, inviting people to pause and write a card to someone facing cancer. The people of Gulfport didn’t hesitate. Their messages, later distributed at Daystar Life Center, echoed a simple, powerful truth: you matter, and your community hasn’t forgotten you.

That thread of care continues today, as WondrVoices. So it feels only right that one of our very first WondrSpots was Wonderworks, a space that embodies the exact energy this project was built on. Wonderworks believes in fostering creativity, connection, and self-expression through intentional retail, classes, and events. We’re so grateful to founder Aimée, who generously offered us table space during those early card-making days, and who continues to make room for this kind of magic to happen.

Gulfport didn’t just help us get started, it showed us what was possible when kindness is communal, creativity is shared, and no one faces hardship alone.