We had our house up for sale for a brief moment, and we looked at several houses in Panama City. All along I said, if it were meant to be, it would sell fast and we would find our perfect new forever home. As you can tell, things didn’t happen that way, we decided to postpone the move for a bit, then Hurricane Micheal happened! Our favorite house in PC was in the worse area hit, the eye of the storm.Thank goodness someone was looking out for us! So you see, not only is this area our favorite, but we could have been there. We could have been two of the victims of this storm.
So many people lost everything. Florida, lost a whole town. A Cape was turned into an Island. Families have been displaced, numerous people lost their jobs, and children lost their schools.
It could be easy to go about my life and ignore these facts, but I can’t!
With the help of my friends, my cry for donations was met and exceeded! Soon, after the storm I flew two suitcases full of donations to a man I never had met. (Still haven’t) He worked at the Panama City Airport and lost everything. I was also able to give his supervisor, who also lost a home, and another girl $50 each, to purchase some necessities. I had so much stuff, I was able to help 9 medical workers, 2 Baker County residents and a new mother in Albany.
Still, with so much still left over, I was worried it would still take us two trips to get all the donations we had, to the Gulf Coast. My husband saved the day and rented a u-haul!
Off to Florida we went! We got up at 4 am, had our coffee and was on the road by 5
Still, with so much still left over, I was worried it would still take us two trips to get all the donations we had, to the Gulf Coast. My husband saved the day and rented a u-haul!
Off to Florida we went! We got up at 4 am, had our coffee and was on the road by 5
My brother questioned why I was doing this, my answer was, “because I CAN!” My question to him should have been, “why not”? Lucky for me, my husband has got used to my shenanigans, and he is willing to help!
I had a list of people and the specific needs they had, and I organized the truck, with those stops in mind. The first stop was to be for a lady and her daughter. Her daughter is pregnant and she is disabled. I was taking a good bit of stuff to them, but she didn’t answer her phone and we had to skip her. The next person was this really nice mom and her two kids. She was living in a tent beside her torn up trailer. She asked for clothes and blankets for her kids. I said, “surely there is something more”. She said it would be nice to have some toys to occupy their time when they have to stay in the tent, because of rain. She told me what they liked and off I went to target with the donated gift certificates to get clothes and toys! They thought we were Santa when we pulled that trailer through all the debris into their trailer park!
What you can’t phantom until you see it, is these people and their pride. This lady was standing on a dirt road with trash, debris and mangled trailers all around her, she was listening to praise music and brushing her daughters hair for church, beside the TENT that they were living in! She didn’t want to ask for help! She was doing all she could to be normal in a horrible situation! So often we put off going to church, we say we are too busy. She asked me if we attended a church. I said yes. Truth is, I need to take a look at Lena, living in hell, with no hope of this getting better, she took the time! She can’t take a shower, but she can go praise Jesus! Her daughter is into to some tv show called, Jojo. Little did I know Jojo is the hottest toy of the season and is all over the shelves of Target! Anyway, I was joking about Jojo and Lena said, Jojo is a good kids role model, she makes little girls believe they can do anything! Well......yes we can! Because of all my woman friends, we were able to help a whole lot of people!!
Thank you to everyone who supported me with the donations and helped me collect. It meant a lot to the people of Panama City, particularly Callaway, Parker and Fountain.
Thank especially to my husband who never questions my crazy ideas and helps me when those small ideas, become mountains!!
Update, we bought our dream home on the bay and closed on it in January. Our plan is to move in about 12-24 months. We love that area and can't wait to help it to re-build and be better than ever! #850STRONG
I had a list of people and the specific needs they had, and I organized the truck, with those stops in mind. The first stop was to be for a lady and her daughter. Her daughter is pregnant and she is disabled. I was taking a good bit of stuff to them, but she didn’t answer her phone and we had to skip her. The next person was this really nice mom and her two kids. She was living in a tent beside her torn up trailer. She asked for clothes and blankets for her kids. I said, “surely there is something more”. She said it would be nice to have some toys to occupy their time when they have to stay in the tent, because of rain. She told me what they liked and off I went to target with the donated gift certificates to get clothes and toys! They thought we were Santa when we pulled that trailer through all the debris into their trailer park!
What you can’t phantom until you see it, is these people and their pride. This lady was standing on a dirt road with trash, debris and mangled trailers all around her, she was listening to praise music and brushing her daughters hair for church, beside the TENT that they were living in! She didn’t want to ask for help! She was doing all she could to be normal in a horrible situation! So often we put off going to church, we say we are too busy. She asked me if we attended a church. I said yes. Truth is, I need to take a look at Lena, living in hell, with no hope of this getting better, she took the time! She can’t take a shower, but she can go praise Jesus! Her daughter is into to some tv show called, Jojo. Little did I know Jojo is the hottest toy of the season and is all over the shelves of Target! Anyway, I was joking about Jojo and Lena said, Jojo is a good kids role model, she makes little girls believe they can do anything! Well......yes we can! Because of all my woman friends, we were able to help a whole lot of people!!
Thank you to everyone who supported me with the donations and helped me collect. It meant a lot to the people of Panama City, particularly Callaway, Parker and Fountain.
Thank especially to my husband who never questions my crazy ideas and helps me when those small ideas, become mountains!!
Update, we bought our dream home on the bay and closed on it in January. Our plan is to move in about 12-24 months. We love that area and can't wait to help it to re-build and be better than ever! #850STRONG
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