Memorial statue unveiled for exotic birds at Jerry’s Foods on Sanibel Island

For over 40 years, Dick Muench displayed many of his exotic birds from Central and South America at Jerry’s Foods on Sanibel.

The birds did not survive Hurricane Ian, leaving Dick and those who visited them feeling like something was missing.

Now, they’re honoring their memory.

Jerry’s Foods installed a plaque and statue of the birds to commemorate their importance to the community and the importance of the person who took care of them.

“This was the most wonderful thing they could have done for me. The new statue here of the birds is just absolutely fabulous, and it brings back so many memories…” said Muench.

Marina visits Sanibel every year, and she grew up greeting the parrots at the island grocery store.

“We actually were supposed to come here right before or right after Ian here. and we followed the news that suddenly all the birds were gone. But now it’s nice to see the display of them and remember the interaction that we used to have when we were a little,” said Marina.

Rick Winningham, Jerry’s General Manager, says this is yet another example of how the island always finds a way to come back together.

“You know, we’re currently the only grocery store here in town. We take that very seriously, and we want to be the neighborhood market and not just the neighborhood market. We want to be a good neighbor and do the right things for the community that’s on the way of rebounding, and we’re going to rebound. We’re going to come through this,” said Winningham.