The mission of the Coalition is to recruit the needed manpower, trained and supervised by the American Red Cross, to allow the Bay County Emergency Services to regularly open a third shelter dedicated to the needs of frail elderly and disabled persons. Additionally, we will recruit a sufficient number of volunteers to assist in "after the disaster" clean up operations.

Description:
The coalition consists of the United Way of Northwest Florida in partnership with the local American Red Cross chapter, the Medical Reserve Corps of Rural Northwest Florida, the Forest Park United Methodist Church, the Bay County Emergency Management Office, the Bay County Council on Aging and the St. Andrews Bay Center. During past hurricanes, some frail elderly and disabled people were unable to use the severe storm shelters that were opened in our community. They were refused because they were determined, by the staff on hand, to not be of sufficient need to enter the "Special Needs" shelter. These people were then transported to the General Public shelter where their needs were again assessed. Some were allowed entry, some were not. The General Public shelter does not have the capability to handle any frail or disabled persons. Once the Special Needs shelter was full, there was no shelter available for the frail seniors and other disabled persons.
In addition, Hurricane Ivan showed us that the storm is over only after the "clean up". After Ivan, the United Way of Northwest Florida coordinated an effort to help the citizens of our area to clean up after the storm. The needs were great and the volunteers were limited. While we did help 80 people, we still had more we could not help.
The coalition's aim is to recruit volunteers for both shelter operations and clean-up.

History:
We are a new coalition just having received funding from Volunteer Florida for this project. The coalition members are all long standing non-profit agencies serving the Bay County area. Each member brings considerable expertise in shelter operations, elder affairs, persons with disabilities, and our faith-based recruiting team.

Contact people:

Joyce Cruel, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email) Randall Josey, American Red Cross, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (850) 784-2569

Address:

518 Mulberry Ave. Panama City, FL 32401 (See a map)

Web Site: None specified