JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Farm Share is having another free distribution this weekend in Jacksonville, but this time around, it is not just food being handed out.
The charity is giving away hurricane supply kits at nine events across the state Saturday morning.
The local event starts at 9 a.m. Saturday outside Celebration Church (9555 R G Skinner Parkway) on Jacksonville’s Southside. It will last until supplies run out.
It is drive-thru only on a first-come, first-served basis, just like other distributions by Farm Share.
People will not get everything they should have in a hurricane kit, but should get enough to get a head start as they add to their kit throughout the season.
“The kit is kind of like a baseline to give families an idea of what they need to get started to get prepared for the hurricanes,” said Laine Adams, who is Farm Share’s community events coordinator. “They can go from there and start talking about other items for their family.”
Included in these kits are non-perishable food items like canned goods, meal, ready-to-eat packets (MREs) that may have pasta, rice, chili and macaroni and electrolytes.
There will be a small flashlight with batteries, shelf-stable milk and bottles of water.
Each person will also get a toiletry kit that has soap, face towels, perfumes and fragrances that can last a family a few days.
“We are here for our community,” Adams said. “We love giving back to the community and having the opportunity to do this for the community here in Jacksonville.”
There will be enough supplies given away to help at least 1,000 families.
Last hurricane season, the nonprofit delivered more than 13 million pounds of food, water and emergency supplies to disaster-declared counties in Florida two weeks before storms made landfall.
People are encouraged to expand the hurricane supply kits they will receive on Saturday.
Some additional items they can add include a battery-powered radio, a first aid kit, a portable battery pack to charge a cellphone, medication, dietary needs, baby items like formula, and pet supplies, including food and water.
Other items people might not think about but can be beneficial are aluminum foil, plastic storage containers, cleaning supplies, work gloves, duct tape and basic tools, including a shut-off wrench in case water or gas to a house needs to be turned off.
If you want to make sure you are prepared for any storm, watch our Hurricane Special that aired last week ahead of the start of hurricane season.
