Support Barbie Newton's Recovery from Hurricane Damage

I hope and pray that when you are reading this, you did not know anyone that suffered the horrific damage physically, and emotionally that the past 2 hurricanes Helen and Milton did to North Carolina and parts of Florida.

It pains me to say one of my closest friends, Barbie Newton who lived RIGHT ON THE BEACH - Redington Beach which is right on the Gulf of Mexico was a victim.

I met Barbie 22 years ago when she contacted me to take my Corporate Flight Attendant Training. At the time my training was relatively new, and she was transitioning to fly in Business Aviation from the commercial airlines.

There was something special about Barbie and we always stayed in touch, and in the past several years we have become close friends.

She is so wonderful and would give “you” the shirt off her back if she could.  She is an exceptional person and a lover of cats like me.

Barbie was on a trip and not home when the storm was closing in on Tampa. Her 2 cats were in her home and her boyfriend rushed to her house to rescue them and take them to his condo 15 minutes from where she lived.

She is a contract flight attendant and works on a daily rate and does not have a full-time salary or benefits.

While Helene was attacking all of Tampa and the surrounding areas and her home, Barbie was out of the country on a contract working trip trying to manage this. Can you even imagine???

She was trying to get friends together to empty her house and salvage anything possible while being out of the country. The stress level was unbelievable. 

She has basically lost everything. Just about all her clothes are gone, drenched and with mildew… and there was/is mold everywhere and family treasures are gone water wrecked.

I think these pictures and videos say and show it all. I am asking for those that can… to contribute to her as she is staying with her boyfriend for the time being.

The ouse she was living was a rental for her for 8 years and it will be demolished. Everything is swollen from the water and the house is literally OFF its’ foundation.

She literally had to go and buy clothes to fly a contract flight in… and shoes and she has just about lost everything. She needs to replace everything and find a place to live. As my Mother always said… “There by the grace of God go I”.

The picture and video says it all. The one that has her possessions piled up in front of the house is everything that is being picked up by the city and disposed of. Take that picture and multiply it by 4. They will have been there 4 times.

Please help my dear friend.

Susan C. Friedenberg