Hurricane Michael Veteran Relief Team Mission

Hello friends,

We hope and pray all is well for you who are reading this.

As we prepare for the 2nd week of hurricane season, we look at the current state of Panama City, Mexico Beach and all of Bay County.

Our most recent missions were done north of those areas in Callaway. For two days we issued necessary food and toiletry items to about 150 families. We can never say thank you enough to you, our partners and family, who have seen us through the mission thus far.

We will shed light on the overall conditions now.

Roughly 10% of families have left the county (according to quite a few locals). Their homes were obliterated and they had no choice. Those who remain are receiving very little help, if any, from government agencies. FEMA has beed a nonfactor in many cases and the county has no monies being issued as relief funds from the government were idle due to voting in Congress for many months. Now that an alottment has been passed, it will take weeks if not months to dispurse and many people feel (and we see) that those efforts in many cases will be too little too late as the extreme of damage has been done.

In essence what we are saying is: where 3-4 months ago, if a family needed simple roof patching or shop-vac/  drywall assistance because of the lack of response the same family situation may now require a complete rebuild (due to mold, corrosion and dilapidated structures) however, the government has no plans on upping the families alottment. Also, insurance companies in the region have pulled out (closed down) in many cases.

Hundreds (if not thousands) remain in tents, make-shift homes and temporaryily over crowded single family units.

Please spread the word today about our efforts!

We thank you so much for all of your prayers and support!

Links:

• Potential housing solution

Good evening.

It has been nearly 2 months since our last report and we wanted to update you after we wrapped up the mission today and headed home for a couple of days. We are returning on Monday night so we are going to rest.

The update:

Much of Mexico Beach is becoming unsalvageable at this point. The lack of funding via FEMA and insurance companies is transparent and the homes and businesses are going to ruins. Even historic landmarks and churches probably won't be spared.

Where there is no rebuild money or insurance, there appears to be a lack of hope in some peoples eyes.

This week alone we passed out enough food to fill about 29 feet of a 35 foot semi-trailer. Water lines are mainly restored in the area, but people have become solely reliant on bottled water out of fear (and honestly we can't blame them).

Just last week, as many of you know, hundreds of families lost housing as FEMA cancelled hotel payments as well as temporary shelter locations. So many residents are back to being reliant on charity and available aid units like ours for supplies and food.

The closest large retail store to Mexico Beach is a Walmart in central Panama City, 40 miles away which is another area we have done missions in and is largely stable but still recovering. 

Overall, this area depended on tourism dollars and small "blue collar" jobs, of which many never rebounded: even 6 months now after Hurricane Michael. The outskirts of the city including Callaway are still heavily damaged and people feel trapped with nowhere to go and no more aid coming in.

Next week, we will be serving the eastern side of Panama City (closer to Tyndall Air Force Base) and of course Mexico Beach with the supplies we have in our stock now.

Please continue to share our messages and pages as we continue to help those in need in these areas.

Thank you.

Links:

• One of the more memorable sites revisited 6 months later