Letters to the Editor
My Safe Florida Home saves homeowners cash

I found your article since My Safe Florida Home was in the title. I am the president of a Wind Certification Entity. Our company has been selected to provide the inspections in the panhandle. We have done over 2,000 inspections in the area so far.

Currently the number of homeowners enrolling in the program has been very low in Santa Rosa. I only have one inspector in the entire county where I have 12 in Escambia. Why is that? The inspection is entirely free, and when we do the inspection we provide a free wind mitigation verification form. This form is what insurance companies need from a homeowner to receive the savings on their premiums.

Santa Rosa county homeowners have saved on average of $282.53 per year on their homeowners insurance for hurricane coverage. This translates to 22.1 percent on average in savings. The reasons the savings are higher in Santa Rosa is because the wind speed ratings for the county have increased. This increase is what has resulted in the cost of insurance going up.

That is $23 per month in savings.

Thomas Enterprising, Inc. will provide a free inspection and a free wind mitigation report to any homeowner who qualifies with the My Safe Florida Home program. If they enroll and choose J-10 the inspection will be assigned to one of our local inspectors.

Christopher Thomas

Melbourne, Fla. Thanks for supporting the arts

Thank you for your support. We appreciate the advertising you published for us - prior to Angel's Garden New Beginnings Art Show.

The ad helped garner increased public participation which in turn bolstered the sales to the arts vendors. Obviously, a win-win situation for the FavorHouse and future New Beginnings art shows.

Realizing we did not come to the table with any finances - your participation is especially appreciated.

Again, thank you.

Mary K. O'Connor

Pensacola

Community wants the zoo

When my children and I heard that our zoo was in danger of closing down this past May, we knew we had to do something to help. I started asking my friends and family for ideas. I was astounded to find that not one of the people I knew in my local circle had any idea that the zoo was in trouble. That made my goal a lot easier to focus on. We needed to get the word out about what was going on.

Having six children, I was more than a little concerned as to how we were going to go about accomplishing our goal. I was blessed enough to get a phone call from the most organized and helpful person, a transplant to this area, Regenta, was able to convert our ideas into an organized working plan. We contacted Natalie Akin at the zoo and she was so supportive right from the beginning. Even as overwhelmed as her schedule already was, she put all of our information on the zoo website and sent out press releases to local news agencies and papers. I was then contacted by Jerry Ellis, a docent at the zoo. He was so helpful and made sure to spread the word through email contacts about the pancake breakfast and the rummage sale. The docents are already full and part-time volunteers of the zoo. We were so thankful for the zoo staff and the docents for taking time from their already busy and complicated schedules to help us. This was only one of many community efforts driven by volunteers with the support and best wishes of the zoo.

With a lot of hard work on the part of many volunteers, who gave of their time and resources, without want of reward. We were able to accomplish our goal of spreading the word about the zoo and as a boon raise $4,800 to give to the zoo.

The majority, $4,400, was raised by the rummage sale at The Flea Market in Gulf Breeze. Sandra was so eager to help that she kept extending our space as more items flowed in from local donations. Everyone there was so helpful and supportive.

I contacted my General Manager John Smith, at The Longhorn Steakhouse in Destin, about doing a pancake breakfast. John was on board immediately. The pancake breakfast was held from 8-10 a.m.. Thanks to the efforts of all the volunteers that day we were able to raise $400. The most positive outcome was the great show of support from our neighbors in Destin. Even though we had many people that went to the Ft. Walton location and missed the breakfast, it was still a success. If anyone dropped the ball on that one, it was me. I really thought we had advertised the location enough that people would not get confused. I apologize to anyone who bought tickets prior to this event.

Every volunteer's time was precious and given for a great cause. I can only hope that the efforts of these wonderful people, many who were local kids volunteering in the 100 degree weather instead of being at the pool or in the air conditioning playing video games, will not be forgotten. The positive feedback that has come from all of the small groups of people that have held their own impromptu fundraisers is phenomenal. The focus should be on the message that our community is shouting loud and clear, "We support and love our zoo!" Please continue to support your zoo.

Sheena Russell

Navarre

Send letters to the editor to news@gulfbreezenews. com, or P.O. box 1414, Gulf Breeze, Fla., 32561.