My original post for this week was a fun one. The Kentucky Derby takes place this weekend, and I had a beautiful inspiration board created to show you a bunch of different ideas (and a lot of BIG hats!) but then, Tuesday, April 29th came to Pensacola - and with it came more than 26 inches of rain and 100,000 (yes. that number is correct) lightning strikes in less than a 24 hour period. I have to be honest - I have been here for hurricanes and tropical storms in the twelve years I have lived here, but Tuesday night was absolutely terrifying. All night, I was tuned in to the WEAR ABC News on my phone through their app, scrolling through Facebook as more and more people said their homes were flooding, listening to the lightning, hoping that it wouldn't hit a tree and fall on our house. Or that our house wouldn't flood. And that we would be safe. We lucked out - our home was fine, and two days later, life could have returned to normal for us. However. My heart is broken. So many lives in Pensacola were turned completely and totally upside down. People found that their homes were flooding, some higher than chest deep water. Roads have been completely washed away, cars are totaled, there are many, many, many families that are now completely homeless and lost literally everything. I'm not going to post images of it here - but it is extremely heartbreaking to see what one storm has done to our beautiful city.
With every picture and status that came across my Facebook feed as the days went by last week and all of the devastation I saw, I knew that we needed to do something, and I wasn't sure what, but for some reason, I kept thinking "t-shirts" in my head. Tracy and Steve of Wedding Walls and I work together in the same office, so I brought this t-shirt design to a last minute meeting with Tracy on Friday morning, and by the end of the day, we were able to actually do something for our Pensacolians. These shirts are available on Etsy for the next 30 days. They will be ordered on May 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th. 100% of the proceeds received from the shirts will go directly to families in need - whether they need clothes, or food, or tools to help clean up - if you purchase one of these shirts, you are helping people to get their life back, helping our Pensacola to turn back into what it always has been, a strong, beautiful, caring community.
Please click here to go directly to Etsy and purchase your shirt (or five!) for $20 to help Gulf Coast families in need.
On the back of the shirts are the 45+ businesses that donated to help turn this into something incredible so fast. And, the shirts are Made in America (yeah!!) so you are helping your fellow Americans as well.
If you have any questions, please contact myself at Kristin@graceandserendipity.com, OR Tracy at Wedding Walls, at Tracy@WeddingWalls.com.
And if you do choose to buy a shirt (or five!), please know that you are truly, truly, truly appreciated.