Local Lanier County Family Invested in Lanier County EMA Shelter
By Carol A. Gasser Moore
LANIER COUNTY, Georgia –Life in Lanier County changed dramatically at about 12:30 a.m. on Friday, September 27th when Hurricane Helene’s eye passed over Lanier County and Lakeland! With this event many people in various first responder capacities have been pre-prepared and stepped up to provide more assistance than those individuals have ever previously been faced. Along with those pre-prepared individuals, there have been a number of Lanier County residents, who have simply realized a “need” and also offered themselves to assist as needed. One such family is Camron and Heather Pendleton.
The Pendleton’s, along with their (not quite) two-year-old, Fynn, are a shining example of the efforts that one family is making in the midst of the worst disaster in any recent time within Lanier County. Their son, Azaiah (5) is not pictured, but also at the shelter volunteering.
Camron and Heather Pendleton are serving Lanier County as volunteer Lanier County Shelter EMA Managers.
Originally, our Lanier County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Administrator Tony Galardo, had planned to open a safe haven during the storm, Thursday, September 26. The unprecedented destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene as it passed through this county and destroyed or severely damaged many Lanier County residences.
Galardo realized that our local area needed more than a one-night shelter at the Old Lanier County Primary School building. Working with the American Red Cross, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Lanier County Board of Commissioners (BOC), and the Lanier County Schools (LCS), he successfully moved the 50+ sheltered adults and children to the new Lanier County Primary-Elementary School Gym. He was able to provide the continued support, specifically, because the Pendleton family stepped up to assist and were willing to stay at the Lanier County EMA Shelter fulltime and keep it supervised and functioning.
Not shy about helping his community, homegrown Camron Pendleton is an employee of Community Network, a volunteer Lanier County Firefighter, and also working part-time for the Lanier County Sheriff’s Office. A Lowndes County High School graduate and ‘almost Lanier County” homegrown, Heather is a fulltime homemaker and caretaker of their preschooler.
“We just saw a need and felt that it was important to assist any way we could in this extremely unusual and challenging time,” said Heather, very modestly.
Characterized by the word “Bulls eye”, the Hurricane Helene weather event has posed unprecedented extensive problems since citizens had to shelter and ride the hurricane out.
“Lakeland/Lanier was hit HARD. Worst I’ve ever seen in my lifetime,” said Sheriff Nick Norton. “Many good people are working so hard staying up for DAYS and going above and beyond to get partial power back up in town.”
As first responders, and utilities and road workers have rapidly responded to the wake of the storm’s “road bumps”, a large number of area citizens have been displaced because their housing was either completely demolished or largely damaged making their homes unusable and uninhabitable. One week out of the storm over 75 people were served overnight at our local Lanier County EMA Shelter on Wednesday.
An increasing number of people have asked for daytime help with much of Lanier County’s electric power and water supply disrupted. These people are seeking relief for conveniences such as a shower, water, empathy as they face the hardships of the storm’s aftermath!
Many of these individuals need a wide variety of social services to help them both deal with the emotional and mental trauma from the storm, as well as take the practical steps to rebuild their basic daily living. Most were not able to flee their own homes with anything except the clothes on their backs.
As readers may realize, there is a lot of variety in our area’s population. It is an “art” for shelter managers to run the shelter, manage the people coming into the shelter, coordinate with the various agency and service personnel who provide a wide variety of assistance and services, help the wide variety of people get along and develop an almost familial relationship with each other. This management “art” occurs in the middle of one of the most traumatic mental and emotional events that can occur to any one individual!
If readers have an opportunity, please contact your local EMA directors and learn how you can help. In the meantime, let these extraordinary people know that you are appreciative of their efforts!
Heroes are ordinary people, who step up to do what’s necessary in extraordinary times … such as the life changing experience of Hurricane Helene’s repercussion!
