GADSDEN COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) — In Quincy, a Gadsden County resident says food and other hurricane relief supplies, meant for everyone, has been sitting for more than a month instead of going to people in need.
Our Valerie Mills started making calls and got in touch with Quincy's mayor.
Mayor Angela Sapp was quick to tell me there's an event this weekend when people can come out and pick up the very supplies that residents asked about.
She also gave me a number of reasons for the delay in getting these supplies out of the warehouse.
Kathy Paramore has been working tirelessly since Hurricane Michael to get supplies to the western Panhandle communities who are most in need.
"We went when Whaler Elementary School in Fountain two Sundays ago. They have approximately 70 percent of the families still living in tents in the woods," said Paramore.
To her surprise, she discovered boxes of Hurricane relief supplies have been sitting in a Quincy warehouse unused since Jan. 3.
"I was kind of upset because these supplies are sitting there not being used. As badly as the citizens of Gadsden County need these items, I feel they should not be sitting in a warehouse," said Paramore.
Quincy Mayor Angela Sapp says it's not what Paramore thinks. The mayor tells me she just hasn't been able to get these supplies out to citizens as quickly as she had hoped.
"These supplies have simply been here for a number of reasons. One: the weather has been a factor. It's either raining or cold. We've also had some organizational issues trying to get things out," said Sapp. "We've got other initiatives we're working on with the legislature to make sure we get funding that will help us recover."
Sapp says the city is also requesting funding to upgrade city infrastructure to help weather the next storm.
Sapp says these items will soon be in the hands of Gadsden residents, meanwhile Paramore hopes she can use any leftover donations to help her neighbors to the west.
Paramore has seen first-hand the need for these supplies and she still questions why it's taking so long to get those supplies into the hands of people in need.
After we spoke with the mayor, Paramore finally did too.
"Called me this morning and told me as of this Saturday at noon they were going to do a give out at Tanyard Creek Park," said Paramore.
These supplies will not be sitting in a Quincy warehouse for much longer.
Sapp has a distribution planned for this Saturday, starting at 12:00 p.m., at Tanyard Creek Park in Quincy.
She says they will be handing out the items until they're gone.
