Mexico Beach Hurricane Relief

My name is Sherry Dixon and I grew up in Mexico Beach. Its my hometown, it's where my family lives, where my friends live. There's something about seeing the place you grew up torn apart. A place you played as a kid. Where you went to high school. Where you made so many memories (that will always be there) washed away. As most of you know Hurricane Michael came barreling into my small beach community like an EF3 Tornado. Leaving a path of destruction that has never before been seen in the Panhandle of Florida. A category 4 hurricane that the pressure dropped so low and so quick that it became the 3rd strongest storm in US history. A storm that has been the strongest in the last 25 years.  A storm that increased 55% in strength overnight. A catastrophic storm that unlike most hurricanes continued to increase as it neared landfall. A storm that started to act unlike other hurricanes in history. A reason most residents who have been through many storms before decided to stay. Mexico Beach is an amazing little community that not many people know about. It's along the beautiful Forgotten Coast. The people are very friendly, open, and kindhearted. You know everyone and say hello to everyone. Your neighbors are your doctor, your garbage man, and your friend. Most have lived here their whole life. Its a very blue collar type community. A small fishing town that is based on tourism in the summer to make it through the winter. Its not a town full of wealthy individuals, it's a town full of hard working people who now have nothing. Most are calling Mexico Beach ground zero.  Saying that it has been basically been wiped off the map. Saying that it is unsafe to return. Have no doubt that as a community, we will not be vanished. We will rebuild. We will come back even stronger than before. There are many, many residents that are not leaving. They are not waiting on the government to get there to help (although looking forward for the help.) They are the ones that are out there working to bring our community back. Helping search and rescue efforts. Working to clear the roads. Helping people who evacuated find their loved ones that stayed behind. A near impossible task without having communication with even your neighbor down the street. We are Mexico Beach strong. We are Port St Joe Strong. We are Panhandle Strong. We are still there no matter what the media says. Let's get our community and the people in it back to our new normal. I am using these funds to help my family and friends recover from the hurricane. I am going to be using the funds to buy blankets and clothes for the community. We are also going to be using this to buy water, food, sunscreen, bug spray, generators, fuel, diapers, wipes, batteries, flashlights, and anything else we may need. Amazon will be a source of shipping items to the area as well as delivering items purchased by hand and bring to those in need. Excess items purchased will be given to the local distribution center. This is where people can go and get items that have been donated without having to purchase the item. This is helping those whom no longer have a job. I plan on withdrawing the funds and making large purchases and taking pictures of the purchases to make sure everyone knows exactly where their donated funds went and how they are helping out. Once the items have been purchased and donated I will post pictures with the updates. Thank you for helping out all my family, friends, and our little beach community.