PANAMA CITY, FL. (WMBB) — Some of Bay County’s residents will be better prepared for the heart of Hurricane Season. People lined up at the Bay County Council on Aging Wednesday to receive a free hurricane kit. The Council of Aging and Florida Power & Light are providing about 1,200 kits to 400 local seniors. […]
PANAMA CITY, FL. (WMBB) — Some of Bay County’s residents will be better prepared for the heart of Hurricane Season.
People lined up at the Bay County Council on Aging Wednesday to receive a free hurricane kit. The Council of Aging and Florida Power & Light are providing about 1,200 kits to 400 local seniors.
Florida Power & Light Senior External Affairs Manager Shane Boyett said, he just wants the seniors to be prepared for when a storm might come.
“A lot of times the seniors don’t have family nearby to take care of them and look after their needs so we want to make sure that we give them information, they know how to do that on their own in the event that they need to so things like your important paperwork, your you know, your medications and things like that, sometimes people don’t think about those things when a storm is coming,” Boyett said.
The event in Bay County has been around over the last 3 years, but according to Boyett, FPL has been doing similar events since 2016.
“We support a lot of different nonprofits around the county and we’re just seniors is just one part of that and so we like to make sure that we’re thinking about that and we have seniors in mind when we’re planning how we do our charitable giving and this is one way that we think makes a really big impact in the lives of these folks,” Boyett said.
A total of 1,100 seniors across Bay, Walton, Washington, Holmes, Jackson, and Calhoun counties have been helped this year.
One of the biggest benefits to seniors is the meals and coupons for locally grown produce.
Panama City’s very own Farmers Market is one of the places the seniors can redeem their coupons.
Bay County Council on Aging’s Chief Operating Officer Andrea Marsh said all the meals and coupons should be distributed over the next 24 hours.
“We have received Farmers Market coupons for 400 seniors and we expect that those will all be distributed probably by tomorrow, the farmer’s market coupons provide $40 worth of coupons for seniors to use at local Farmers’ Markets to help provide them with fresh produce for their diets through the summer,” Marsh said.
The State Department of Elder Affairs is providing farmer’s market coupons and for more information on how to sign up in the future, you can call 850-769-3468 or click here.
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