On Oct 10, 2018 Hurricane Michael made landfall near Panama City (where USFRA is based), and it devastated many communities across the Florida panhandle.
Several months before the storm hit, USFRA and Jägermeister had begun working on some programs for 2019, so when Michael hit, they wanted to do something to support and thank our area first
responders.
Jägermeister offered to donate over 400 backpacks along with $25,000 to USFRA for the First Responder Thank You event that was held December 11, 2018 at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Lynn Haven, Florida.
Because Panama City and other communities were so devastated by the Category 5
hurricane (and some tornadoes), there was no place to have backpacks and other items shipped to, assembled and stored until the event.
So Bill and I had everything shipped to Texas so we could put everything together and haul kits to Florida in our motorhome.
The plan was to meet a few people from Jägermeister at BCSO for some photos, then hand out backpacks to the first 400 Panama City area first responders and small K9 gift bags to the first 15 K9 teams that stopped by.
The 400+ backpacks each included an #850Strong t-shirt, a $50 Walmart gift card, our preparedness and first aid book, a 2-sided thank you note, a discount on VetCare’s pet wound care products, and Allergan’s donated REFRESH eye gel.
The day of the event was so rewarding meeting hundreds of city and county Fire/EMS, EOC and Law Enforcement (including dispatch) personnel, as well as several state Highway Patrol officers.
Read more + see more photos and a video about the event in our USFRA News Room ... and thank you Mast-Jägermeister for supporting our Florida panhandle first responders.