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Mission 500 completes second service trip to Puerto Rico

Miami, Fla. — Mission 500 recently completed its fourth service trip within the United States, making this the second trip to Puerto Rico to assist families still struggling from the damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

Mission 500 says thirty volunteers lent their physical support along with financial assistance to help assist 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, 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,” said George Fletcher, Mission 500 advisory board member, in a prepared statement. “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.”

“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,” said Ronnie Pennington, national sales engineer at Altronix.