Hurricane Michael Veteran Relief Team Mission

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