After Action Report

Our Lake Wales American Legion was a god-send for the residents of Lake Wales, Polk County, and Floridians who were in need following Hurricane Irma's sweep through Florida. During the storm, the Post housed 20 individuals who were under mandatory evacuation orders, their nine (9) dogs, and three (3) cats. For as long as two (2) weeks the majority of our evacuees lived within the walls of the Post. The Post provided food, restrooms, showers, electricity, comradeship, and information.

On Monday, September 12th, we looked up and saw a bunch of guys (and gals, all veterans) from Texas who were coordinating a barrage of relief supplies to be sent to our Post. (The Post had sent two [2] semi-truck loads of relief supplies to Houston just the week before.) We received supplies from Hurricane Harvey flood-ravaged Texas via airplane, semi truck, and trucks with trailers. We are located in Central Florida in almost the geographic center of the state. With further assistance from the County's Emergency Operations Center, FEMA and the Florida Department, we supplied those in need as far south as Key West, as far west as Tampa, and as far east as Cocoa Beach. In all we ran 85 missions of relief supplies loaded with water, diapers (adult and children), snacks, meals-ready-to-eat, snacks-ready-to-eat, toilet paper, tarps, pet food, and drinks of other types - just to name a few things. We housed 23 volunteers from Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Alabama for 18 days. When they left, they presented the Post with a Texas flag signed by each of the volunteers who had passed through the Post on their way to south Florida. They are all now a part of our American Legion family.