» » 'This is my sanity': Pantry director serves all day, heads to mold-infested home at night | Hurricane Michael one year later - Tallahassee Democrat

'This is my sanity': Pantry director serves all day, heads to mold-infested home at night | Hurricane Michael one year later - Tallahassee Democrat

'This is my sanity': Pantry director serves all day, heads to mold-infested home at night | Hurricane Michael one year later - Tallahassee Democrat
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Lynn Haven electrician Daniel Silbaugh describes what it's like making hurricane repairs a year after Michael struck the Panhandle. Jeffrey Schweers, Capitol Reporter

PANAMA CITY  — Four to five times a week, Tammy Wilson drives down from her ruined mobile home in Chipley to the food pantry at Trinity Lutheran Church in Panama City to put together hundreds of grocery bag packages for the homeless and needy displaced by Hurricane Michael.

“We live in a home that is covered in mold, and our foundation is busted up,” Wilson said, explaining her loud, hacking cough.

She and her husband saved up for 15 years to buy the home, which was only five weeks old when Michael struck on October 10. It was deemed a total loss, but 11 months later she and her husband are still fighting with the insurance company and even had to hire a lawyer.

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More: The price tag of recovery after Hurricane Michael: Billions and billions of dollars

“They are not wanting to pay out because it was only five weeks old,” Wilson said. “Both the structural engineer and air quality control said it’s a complete loss.”

At a recent examination under oath at a hearing with her insurance company, Wilson said she was grilled for five hours.

They evacuated three miles up the road to ride out the storm at her aunt’s brick house. Neighbors said the wind picked up her mobile home and slammed it down on the foundation all day and all night. “It separated it, broke the seal and made it do this instead of sit flat,” she explains illustrating by tilting her hand at an angle.

The water damage caused a mold outbreak, but they had no place else to live. FEMA rejected their application for assistance because they had insurance, Wilson said. 

“We had no choice,” she said.

She and her disabled husband, their four kids and a menagerie of dogs and cats live in the busted double-wide on disability income. The number of animals has increased because people either dropped them off with her or left them behind and never came back.  

“We have extras because I can’t see them going hungry,” she said.

And then they got mold poisoning.

“We started getting sick a couple of months ago,” Wilson said. “ We’re on medication. We’re on blockers to block the mold and allergy medication.”

The gymnasium at Everitt Middle School in Bay County left open to the elements after Hurricane Michael tore off the roof and crumbled the walls in Oct. 2018.

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The inside hallway of the gymnasium at Everitt Middle School in Bay County. The gym was destroyed by Hurricane Michael in Oct. 2018 and has yet to be torn down and replaced 11 months after the storm made landfall.

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Seth Jones, a junior at Bay High School in Panama City, Fla., 16, talks about the many struggles he experienced in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael and how it continues to have an impact on his life today, 11 months after the storm made landfall.

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The inside of the Bay County School Board office building is under construction due to damages caused by Hurricane Michael 11 months prior.

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First Presbyterian Church in Panama City is receiving a new roof after Hurricane Michael, which struck the Panhandle in Oct. 2018, tore off the roof of the building.

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A sign hangs at the front steps of the First Presbyterian Church in Panama City letting members know the church service is being held at a temporary location due to roof construction. Hurricane Michael tore apart structures throughout the Panhandle in Oct. 2018 and left many people to pick up the pieces for what has been 11 months since the day of initial impact.

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Tammie Barry, an inspector with Southern Earth Sciences, shares some of her findings as she inspected the fine arts building located on the campus of Bay High School in Panama City, Fla. Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. Hurricane Michael caused major structural damage to just about any structure in its path.

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The inside of the fine arts building on the Bay High School campus in Panama City, Fla. is unusable in its current state Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. Hurricane Michael ripped through the Panhandle in Oct. 2018 and left many homes, businesses, and schools in total disarray.

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Tammie Barry, an inspector with Southern Earth Sciences, holds tubes containing cotton swabs with samples she collected from the Bay High School fine arts building. Barry inspects various buildings on school campuses in Bay County for mold and other bacterias that could be growing due to damages caused by Hurricane Michael in Oct. 2018.

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An apartment building in the Macedonia Gardens Apartments complex in Panama City under construction after having to be remodeled due to Hurricane Michael, which ripped through the Panhandle in Oct. 2018.

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What was once a baseball field in Panama City, Fla. is now a piece of land covered in piles of debris. When Hurricane Michael tore through the Panhandle in Oct. 2018 it destroyed almost everything in its path.

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Director of Communications for the Bay District Schools Sharon Michalik talks about the struggles she has seen many students faced as they returned back to class after Hurricane Michael destroyed many of their belongings in Oct. 2018.

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Bay District Schools Homeless Liaison Kay Daniels shares what she has experienced in her line of work when dealing with students who are still displaced 11 months after Hurricane Michael tore through the Panhandle.

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Bay District Schools Homeless Liaison Kay Daniels holds a flyer asking for help from families of students in order to get an accurate count of students who have been displaced and still are displaced 11 months after Hurricane Michael hit the Panhandle.

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A community recovery center is set up inside the Bay County Public Library in Panama City, Fla. It is a place where community members can seek help with the struggles they encounter as they continue to recover and rebuild what Hurricane Michael took away from them in Oct. 2018.

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Paper bags filled with various nonperishable food items are packed at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Panama City, Fla. The bags are distributed to those who can not afford to feed themselves or their family as they continue to recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Michael almost a year ago.

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Linda Brown, a retired teacher, fills reusable bags with nonperishable food items for families to pick up later on in the week. The bags provide families in need with meals as they continue to recover and rebuild what Hurricane Michael took from them almost a year ago.

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Tammy Wilson, director of the food pantry at Trinity Lutheran Church in Panama City, Fla., fights back tears as she shares the struggles she has faced and continues to deal with everyday. Hurricane Michael tore apart her home that was built just five weeks prior to the storm.

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Rachal Smoker, founder of Rachal's Recovery Relief, shares how she helps with recovery efforts in her community of Panama City, Fla. Smoker helps run a food pantry that provides meals for families who are still struggling to provide for themselves since Hurricane Michael hit in Oct. 2018.

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Logan Flint, an art teacher at Bay High School in Panama City, Fla., shares his experience of Hurricane Michael and how he continues to recover from it as he rebuilds parts of his home 11 months after the storm initially struck.

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Sydney Gay, a junior at Bay High School in Panama City, Fla., 16, talks about how she was impacted by Hurricane Michael in Oct. 2018.

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At Bay High School in Bay County, Fla. students attend classes at what they call "tornado park" Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. When Hurricane Michael hit the Panhandle in Oct. 2018 it left large portions of Bay High School in shambles.

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Sydney Gay, a junior at Bay High School in Panama City, Fla., 16, left, and Samantha Dominguez, a senior, 17, talk about their experiences with Hurricane Michael and how their school helps them to move on from what happened with the storm initially struck the Panhandle.

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Assistant Principal at Bay High School Kris Palfrey describes how the students have enjoyed being back in school and that it is a place that they love to be because it makes their lives feel normal. Hurricane Michael had a large impact on Panama City, Fla. and displaced many students.

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On distribution day, Wednesday, she gets up at 3:30 a.m. to leave her house so she can be here before people start lining up outside at 5 a.m. 

On a typical distribution day, she and other volunteers will distribute 32,000 pounds of groceries to 800 to 1,200 families a week.

“I don’t get home until about seven, eight at night,” she said.

People ask her all the time why she is doing this.

“I say this is my peace. This is my sanity," Wilson said. "The only way I feel like I can survive is to help other people because I know how it feels for me, so I know how they’re feeling. If I can do anything to relieve a little bit of that, that’s all that matters.”

Contact Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.

MARKING THE MICHAEL ANNIVERSARY

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Here's how to navigate the Hurricane Michael interactive on Tallahassee.com Nate Chute, IndyStar

Experience the trajectory of tragedy

Visit michael.tallahassee.com to take a virtual tour of Hurricane Michael’s destruction from the coast to the Georgia state line as seen through the eyes, stories, photos and videos of our journalists and neighbors.

Coming on Oct. 10 and beyond

Beginning on Oct. 10, landfall day, and continuing through the month, we will revisit some of the hardest hit communities and have daily datelined stories from nearly two dozen towns in North Florida and South Georgia.

Help us write the next chapter

The Tallahassee Democrat has won a $25,000 Facebook grant to continue chronicling the recovery after Hurricane Michael.  We will pay community correspondents – writers, photographers and videographers – who live in the hardest-hit areas to help tell the stories of the storm's aftermath and recovery. To apply, email us at letters@tallahassee.com. 

How to Help

Rebuild 850: Launched in Nov. 2018, this organization, co-chaired by former Florida House Speakers Allan Bense and Will Weatherford, has been marshalling support for those still suffering. Donate or volunteer at rebuild850.org 

One North Florida: This new initiative supported by NeverForgottenCoast.com, Mission850.com and the Community Foundation of North Florida helps connect volunteers and donors who want to Give, Go and Serve. Visit https://www.onenorthflorida.org/  for more information. 

Storms of Our Lives 

Join us at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct 18 at the American Legion Hall on Lake Ella for a special Storytellers night with the theme "Storms of Our Lives." A fundraiser for Lee's Place, it will feature about five local storytellers taking to the stage to tell you true stories about their own storm experiences (in the literal or figurative sense). Details at tickets.tallahasse.com

Subscribe today

Subscribe to Tallahassee.comHelp us continue our coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle by becoming a digital subscriber.

Trajectory of Tragedy: Take an interactive tour of Hurricane Michael’s arc of ruin as seen through the eyes of our journalists and neighbors.

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