Mission 500 Volunteers Fulfill 2nd Service Trip to Puerto Rico
Thirty security industry volunteers returned to the hurricane-ravaged island nation to help rebuild homes of two families and provide financial assistance.
Mission 500 volunteers that traveled to Puerto Rico hail from ADS Security, Altronix, Axis Communications, Brinks Home Security, Core Logics, Five Alarm Security, Galaxy Systems, Gould Alarm Communications, Hikvision, Milestone, Resideo Pro Security and WeSuite.
MIAMI — Mission 500, a nonprofit charity supported by the security industry and dedicated to serving the needs of children and communities in crisis, recently completed its second service trip to Puerto Rico to assist families still struggling from the devastating damage caused by 2017’s Hurricane Maria.
The organization’s first service trip in 2018 to Ponce — the island nation’s second largest city, located on it southern coast — raised $12,000, which was used to provide two families with extensive home renovations.
Thirty Mission 500 volunteers returned to Ponce Oct. 31-Nov. 4 to lend their physical support along with financial assistance to help two families this year.
One house was essentially rebuilt from the foundation up by reinforcing unstable flooring, installing new siding and a new roof. The second house received a small addition and a new bathroom that replaced an old outhouse. One house received a new washing machine, and the other received a new refrigerator. The team also provided new doors for bedrooms, bedsheets and carpet to provide improved living conditions for the families.
Volunteer support came from representatives of 11 companies, including ADS Security, Altronix, Axis, Brinks Home Security, Core Logics, Five Alarm Security, Galaxy Systems, Gould Alarm Communications, Hikvision, Milestone, Resideo Pro Security and WeSuite.
“Unless you have spent time in these communities, it’s hard to understand the enormous impact of these tangible, real actions on the families we help,” says George Fletcher, Mission 500 advisory board member. “We added an 8-by-8 foot addition and a full bathroom to one home, for example. The main breadwinner of that family has been diagnosed with stomach cancer, and will no longer have to use the detached outhouse that the family had been living with. Maybe the best thing about a program like this is that both the families we help and the industry volunteers benefit. Bonding, lifelong friendships, and touching families’ hearts — these intangibles also deliver life-changing impacts.”
Jason Lutz, Industry Affairs at Resideo Pro Security comments, “We are excited about how the service trip brings together security industry professionals who care about helping others. The Resideo partners are big supporters in their local communities, and we were happy to make an even bigger impact on this trip by uniting with the extended team.”
Tom Nolan, director of strategic partnerships, Mission 500, described this year’s service trip as “[T]ruly amazing. Every person on the team brought their unique viewpoint and skillset and was ready to help. Even though this particular group had never worked as a unit before, the team dynamic was so unique and special — and we worked so well together — that we were able to accomplish much more than any one of us had imagined possible.”
“The service trip was beyond all expectations. Thirty volunteers started this journey as strangers and left as a family with a bond that will last a lifetime. Our collective ability to provide hands-on assistance to two families in need was both rewarding and very humbling. It is a life experience I urge others to consider should the opportunity present itself,” says Ronnie Pennington, national sales engineer at Altronix.
To learn more about Mission 500 or to make a donation, visit mission500.org. You can also contact Nolan at [email protected] or call (516) 903-7291.
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