Fill the Needs

This week has been incredible thanks to our donors & partners. We are honored to be a part of this response effort and recovery process for communities throughout the Southeastern US. Ben Owen, Amy Sins, Scott Mann, We Fight Monsters, Heart of an Ace Inc (501c3) Kristin Vaughn

Fill the Needs has a few outstanding needs you may be able to help us with for our disaster relief efforts in Florida and North Carolina. If you can donate any of the following items, please text us at 504-321-3808. NEEDS- 1. A volunteer with a flatbed trailer who can drive 12 round bales of hay from Milton, FL to our contact near Ashville, NC. 2. Truckloads of hay donated to NC and delivered- we are getting a lot of hay requests 3. Donated shipping containers- many of our partners in NC need a space where they can store supplies out of the weather. 4. Donated semi truck transit from Miami, Oklahoma to Asheville, NC. 5. Donated semi truck transit from Miami, Oklahoma to Orlando, FL. 6. Gas powered wood splitters 7. Gas powered wood chippers You can also donate funds to help all of our efforts- https://lnkd.in/grRU9uPd www.filltheneeds.org

Last 7 days breakdown: -mucking and gutting -gave $400 to a Helene victim to put in a hotel room -used $1600 to put a family of 6 in a hotel room for a week in NC -gave $300 to a friend who recently had a liver transplant and has to travel on her own dime 4 hours back and forth to the hospital -donated 2 box trailers, a plane w 260 lbs of supplies, and a$2k walmart shopping trip of supplies to my community -held event where we handed out supplies delivered by private plane to me -sent a DMV survivor $100 as she is fleeing her situation and is broke -sent $500 to a trafficking survivor to pay her rent -sent $1200 to a local agency providing relief -held our 2nd supply drop event and cooked lunch for, and handed out supplies to several hundred people affected by Helene. -handed out over $3000 in supplies to my local community of people hit by Helene. -have $4000 of supplies being delivered to affected communities -finally got remaining 3 inches of water out of my basement with my shop vac, jerked out baseboards and door frames, cut out some sheetrock, used my new chainsaw (birthday present from my dad in August- thanks dad!!) to clear trees and limbs off my property and house. -bought a survivor leader 2 new front tires -booking flights for another survivor leader for a conference -paid for our airbnb for 4 survivor leaders to be able to go to a conference -helped coordinate delivery of needs in WNC and FL. -working side by side with Scott Mann and Amy Sins and Ben Owen and learning so so so so much -did my normal job- training doctors on Health & Human Trafficking training and have 2 more this week I did all of this because you guys trust me and donate money to me. We aren’t anywhere near done yet. I have been running a marathon at a sprint's pace. I'm learning to slow it down a bit now and will continue to support these efforts as per usual- as always : anti-trafficking and my most recent focus: Hurricane Helene - as long as people keep supporting me, and then even after that. Everyone can help someone. We can't do this without you. Tons of links below to donate to. I hope everyone is well. I love you all. ?????? I appreciate your support. I have a million and one messages and notifications I haven't checked. and this is why ???????????????? I will get back on track again soon- but this has taken total priority. You never know what it's like until it happens to you. I cannot Thank you guys enough for your continued support. It is supposed to frost and snow tonight. We NEED blankets, propane heaters,propane, etc. There are displaced people who are living in tents in my community. I'm doing everything I can to get them in hotel rooms. But I'm out of funds Links to donate in comments. You can Donate to me directly or you can go to wefightmonsters.org and earmark it for SWVA. more pictures of efforts, and where your money goes, to come soon. #HurricaneHeleneRelief #SouthwestVirginia #OperationPineappleExpressAppalachia

Our deepest thanks to Fill the Needs and Amy Sins for the shoutout! We’re truly proud to collaborate with such an incredible organization as we work together to support our community in the aftermath of this catastrophic storm. #DisasterRelief #CommunityPartners #FillTheNeeds #GreyBullRescue #HurricaneHelene

Hey all- The results of Hurricane Helene have been devastating. There are still areas without power or cell connection and people stranded and no way to see if family is ok or get help. There is a lot of great orgs out there doing incredible work behind the scenes coordinating resources and providing direct support. Funds are critical as well so if you can donate, all funds will go directly to support efforts. One great org is Fill the Needs run by Amy Sins. Below is a quick update what they have been doing. They can really use support right now to continue serving. “Here is an update on what Fill the Needs is doing for Hurricane Helene- 1. Our team has been working through the night to assist our partners with information, safe travel, updates and logistics. We've established a team of partners in Florida, NC, SC and TN and are supporting them through this storm. We're providing them real time & continuous updates on safe roads, emergency alerts, power outages and other critical data for their response & transit efforts. 2. We are communicating with state and local agencies, VOAD and EOCs in the impacted area to identify needs and available resources and are working to steer 18wheelers of supplies to our distribution partners throughout the region. 3. Our fearless partners at @GreyBullRescue are coordinating with local police and fire departments and are conducting rescues in the Tampa area and north. 4. The team of incredible partners with Veterans Without Borders has been out all night conducting rescues in Port Richey. They did 23 rescues, plus 4 dogs, 2 birds and 1 cat. They're continuing to conduct rescues now. 5. Our new friends at Transport Ministries (thank you Janet and Mr. Duncan) are enroute today with supplies to Mr. Larry Ward's team in Milton Florida where volunteers will sort and repack them for multiple distribution points in the impacted areas. 6. Our longtime partner Katie Pechon with Cajun Army is currently working with Florida State Police to remove trees and debris and open roadways. 7. Our new partner Justin (thanks Onur for the intro) last night was called to action unexpectedly. As he was on the interstate enroute to the emergency operations center, he saw a car hit water, spin out and crash into the guardrail. He jumped to action and helped to pull the driver out of the window before the car caught fire and waited until EMS arrived. **This was a good reminder of how dangerous the roads are with high winds, water and poor visibility. Don't drive in a hurricane if you don't have to, stay safe. A lot is happening & more updates are coming! I just wanted y'all to see a little of the behind the scenes of how a group of small, but mighty organizations can rally together and make a huge impact.” https://lnkd.in/eFK6Wxm2

It has been about 18 days of non-stop disaster relief. There hasn't been a free moment to type up an update. And when I do I get overwhelmed with emotion of how many good people are coming together for their communities and for strangers. People are helping each other, they're stepping up to make a difference and they're improving the challenging situations faced by families impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. When I got the call that Mr. Steve had an 18 wheeler of supplies, I was chatting with Cassandra who reiterated the need in N. Augusta. She put me directly in touch with @Noami Harris-Stanton at GAP MINISTRIES INC. Noami and I were both speechless when we realized that every item on the truck could absolutely be put to use right away and this was a gift sent from above. In fact there may have been a few tears of joy! Kindness sparks incredible things. Soon I'll be posting more, I promise!! You can follow Fill the Needs and you can donate to our efforts here- https://lnkd.in/grRU9uPd www.filltheneeds.org

What a past couple of weeks with these back to back storms! Lots of damage that still needs to be addressed with our house and the city as a whole, but I wanted to take a minute to thank the countless people and organizations that reached out to me and my family. As the days progressed and my propane and gas supplies dwindled, my old friend Amy Sins reached out to help through her organization Fill the Needs and Beacon Rescue https://beaconrescue.org/ coordinated gas and propane drop offs from and also through Scott Mann’s Task Force Pineapple to get me setup with Starlink, which was huge! Scott’s org also provided gas for my car and generator as I was down to my last couple of gallons. This came at a critical time because I was powering fridges for my elderly neighbors who had to keep medicine cold for themselves and grandkids. The problem then became if I could get fuel to keep them running… Another SF guy who had been helping with the recovery efforts through Scott, showed up and was super helpful and willing to give whatever he had. Sent him off with a bottle of bourbon ?? to thank him, Scott and Amy’s orgs for their efforts. There are a whole bunch of other people that I still need to thank personally, but hats off to the above as they were able to have a direct impact when we needed supplies most. Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the State of Florida did a great job with their preparation and response as well. Bottom line, the community came together to help each other when it was needed and I saw the best of humanity in action. Saw a few dirtbags as well but as Amy said, “God is taking notes”! Still a long road ahead but slowly, we’ll fix everything and it will be better than it was before! De Oppresso Liber! #hurricanemilton #hillsboroughcounty #stateofflorida #filltheneeds #beaconrescue #taskforcepineapple

A week has passed since Hurricane Milton, and the need for help in Tampa Bay remains urgent. We are incredibly grateful to our team of Special Ops veterans, the Support Team, and all our Partners for their relentless efforts over the past week. Your dedication is making a real difference in the lives of those affected. Thank you for standing with us Premium Utility Contractor / Walmart / Murphy Auto Group, Inc. / FISH & WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION, FLORIDA / Hillsborough Transit Authority (HART) / Fill the Needs / And many more... ??GET HELP: https://lnkd.in/eDRM3595 ??DONATE: https://lnkd.in/ehsb6T6U #HurricaneMilton #Florida #GreyBullRescue #Nonprofit

Thank you to Mr. Steven, the man on the other end of the phone who answered many prayers with a semi-truck of supplies for Fill the Needs. There are communities all over the southeast impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton and we will do everything we can to help! Please donate so we can do a lot more ?? www.filltheneeds.org Donation Link- copy and paste https://lnkd.in/grRU9uPd

Our partners in North Carolina are in need of firewood. One would assume that with all the fallen trees and debris, there would be enough wood for three winters. Unfortunately, that fresh wood is not an ideal solution. It is often wet & muddy. And of course it is green. Green wood burns cooler, releases a lot of smoke and builds up residue in fireplaces and chimneys. The same goes for pine. The residue that builds up then puts homes at greater risk of fire. So not only is it not good wood to burn, it is unsafe. I’ve been non-stop searching for a truckload of firewood. In the process, we’ve learned a lot about firewood. Though we’ve had generous offers, we now know that only kiln dried firewood can cross state lines. Wood that doesn’t go through a kiln can bring in bugs and plant diseases into other states- so it is against the law to transport it to NC. This morning it seemed like all of our options to get a truck of wood had been exhausted. I was about to give up. So, I started typing a facebook post requesting it in hopes it would generate some leads. I didn’t hit send, because I got distracted—my phone beeped with a text message, “here is a possible lead on firewood for your church partner.” Signed Benjamin. I didn’t know Benjamin, but I do now!! I immediately started making calls & sending texts. And Benjamin put me in touch with a very nice man named Colt. Colt said he has the 18-wheeler of firewood we need- kiln dried in GA. Southern Legacy Wood Products, LLC THE NEED WAS FILLED!! And guess what, that 18-wheeler of firewood will be delivered to our friends in Lake Lure, NC. CityServe International, Fill the Needs, Spokes of Hope, NCVOAD-North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster When good things are in motion, more good things happen. ******DONATE NOW******* https://lnkd.in/g9TfK3-K Keep supporting our efforts, keep good things happening!!! Amy Southern Legacy Wood Products, LLC