GIVING BACK

Local animal shelter urgently requests donations after running out of pet food

The Panhandle Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) has put out an urgent call for pet food donations after the shelter completely ran out of dog and cat food.

• In a statement on social media, PAWS said their supply of both wet and dry pet food has been fully depleted, leaving the shelter animals’ food bowls empty at mealtimes.

“The well-being of these animals depends on your kindness,” the post said. PAWS cares for stray and abandoned cats and dogs in the local community.

The nonprofit shelter is asking local residents to donate any type of dog or cat food they can spare, whether opened or unopened, brand name or generic. Monetary donations are also appreciated to help buy more pet supplies.

• Community members can drop off donations at the shelter, located at 752 Lovejoy Road NW, during their open hours of Tuesday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm.

“These loyal friends rely on us, and we won’t let them down,” said PAWS in their appeal for help. The shelter emphasized that without adequate food supplies, the health and spirits of their animals suffer.

PAWS said community support is essential to their mission of rehabilitating and finding forever homes for local homeless pets. They are urging local residents to show their support during this pressing time of need.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Okaloosa and Walton response teams deploy to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia

As residents along Florida’s Big Bend area continue to grapple with the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, help is on the way from Okaloosa County.

On Wednesday afternoon, a convoy of 17 Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies loaded up supplies and made the trek eastbound to provide assistance in hard-hit Suwannee County. The deputies brought with them equipment for road clearing and extra gasoline to aid in recovery efforts.

Before hitting the road, Sheriff Eric Aden and Chief Deputy Ken LaPee addressed the volunteer crew with words of gratitude. “We’re grateful for you and we’re proud of you,” Chief Deputy LaPee told them. “Be safe, and if you need something, let us know. You won’t be so far away that the Sheriff and I can’t jump in and run to you.”

Sheriff Aden acknowledged the dire situation facing many in the hurricane’s path. “It makes me proud to be the Sheriff and to have so many people willing to step up at times like this,” he said. “We’ll certainly make a difference in those people’s lives, and that’s the reason we’re going.”

In addition to the Sheriff’s convoy, Strike Team 1101 left on Wednesday as well. The crew of firefighters came from departments across Okaloosa County, including Fort Walton Beach, Destin, North Bay, Okaloosa Island, Crestview, Holly-Navarre and Walton County.

Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Big Bend region on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm, bringing damaging winds and flooding. 

• “Those of you who have deployed before understand that it sucks the life out of that community,” Sheriff Aden told the volunteers. “They’re reeling. There’s people that are going to be in dire straits.”

A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARDWALK

Labor Day Weekend fireworks show at The Boardwalk on Okaloosa Island

Celebrate the final days of summer with a BOOM!

• Head out to The Boardwalk on Okaloosa Island for their special Labor Day Weekend Fireworks show on Sunday, September 3rd at 9:00 pm! 

Pull up a chair, or throw down a blanket. However you choose to watch, just grab a friend or the whole family!

Snag your view early and grab some food and drink from one of The Boardwalk’s restaurants before the show begins.

SCHOOL

High school students push for fentanyl education in Okaloosa Schools  

Three local high school students made an impassioned plea to the Okaloosa County School Board on Monday, urging officials to implement fentanyl education in schools. 

• Declan Harnett, Genesis Jimenez Chavez, and William Kiker, representing the non-profit organization Not Even Once (NEO), talked of the dangers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and the lack of awareness among their peers. 

“In 2021, there were more than 106,000 drug related deaths. 68% of those deaths were caused by fentanyl,” said Harnett, a Crestview resident and local student. “It kills within 5 minutes, and it’s unable to be seen.” 

Harnett noted fentanyl’s potency – just the size of a pen tip can be lethal. It’s often mixed with other illicit and prescription drugs unbeknownst to users. 

• “It can sneak up on you, and be found in things like Xanax, Adderall, nasal sprays, small candies, vapes…it’s in everything,” Harnett said. 

Chavez, also of Crestview, cited local statistics from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office showing around 40 fentanyl-related overdoses in the county in both 2021 and 2022 so far. She said Florida’s 1st Congressional District has the highest per capita fentanyl overdose deaths as of 2023. 

“Today we stand before you terrified for our youth,” Chavez told the board. “Our teens are being killed by counterfeit pills distributed on apps like Snapchat that are indistinguishable for even Drug Enforcement Administration agents.”

Kiker focused his remarks on solutions, specifically NEO’s in-school assemblies that educate students about fentanyl. He asked for a meeting with Superintendent Marcus Chambers to discuss bringing the 20-minute interactive assemblies to Okaloosa schools.

• “If you ask the average student in Okaloosa County schools, ‘What is fentanyl?’ They’ll say, ‘I have no idea.’ That is a failure on our part to educate students,” Kiker said. 

In response, Superintendent Marcus Chambers and the School Board commended the students for their advocacy and Chambers agreed to meet with them. 

“I think we all know fentanyl is something we take seriously,” Chambers said, referencing previous fentanyl presentations to the board. “It’s always great when we can get student voices on something this important.”

The NEO students said they hope increased education will prevent experimental pill use among their peers. “Our mission is to inform students about lethal fentanyl so that they never experiment with pills, not even once,” Chavez told the board.

COASTAL RESOURCES

158 more loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings emerge from two nests on Okaloosa Island

A total of 158 loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings emerged from two nests on Okaloosa Island this past Saturday night, and made their way to the Gulf of Mexico. The Okaloosa County Coastal Resource Team, with oversight from the permit holder, Emerald Coast Turtle Watch, inspected the nests on Wednesday, August 30th, to evaluate the number of eggs and hatchlings from each location. 

• The nest evaluations are a normal part of the sea turtle monitoring process, according to Okaloosa Coastal Resource Coordinator Jessica Valek. The team locates and monitors sea turtle nests, but does not intervene or assist with the actual hatching process. 

“We are hands-off during the entire incubation process,” Valek explained. “The time that the eggs are spent in the ground, those turtles are developing and growing within the egg. We do not ever go into the nest until after the turtles have already hatched from their eggs and come up out of the ground.”

Once a nest shows signs of hatching activity, the team continues to monitor it for 72 hours. This allows time for any straggler hatchlings that take longer to fully emerge. 

• “Female sea turtles’ eggs can get fertilized by more than one male on different days but she lays all of her eggs on the same day,” Valek said. “Because there’s that day difference in fertilization, some might hatch a little bit earlier than the rest of the nest.” 

After the 72 hour period ends, the team performs an evaluation by carefully digging up the nest contents, by hand. This allows them to count the total number of eggs, hatched eggs, unhatched eggs, and any hatchlings that are still in the nest.

“We’re looking at how many eggs there were total, how many of those eggs hatched and then determine how many hatchlings were produced from the nest,” Valek explained. “That is what we were doing on Wednesday with those nests.”

The first nest, located near Beach Access #1, contained 138 total eggs. Of those, 123 hatched successfully.  

“That is above average for a loggerhead nest,” Valek noted. 

The second nest, near Beach Access #3, was unusually small with just 54 total eggs. Only 35 of those hatched.

• “That nest did not experience any sort of disturbance or significant temperature swings,” Valek said. “It didn’t experience any washover during the incubation period either. That one was unusual.”

Despite the lower hatch rate at the second nest, the overall outcome was positive with 158 hatchlings making it safely to the water between the two locations. This is in addition to the other 90 and 67 hatchlings from Destin, earlier this month.

During the evaluation, the team catalogs details like the number of whole unhatched eggs remaining, any partial eggs, and evidence of predation from ghost crabs or other predators that will eat the eggs.

“We also look for hatchlings that don’t make it fully out of the egg,” Valek explained. “They’ll still be in the egg. So that is called a pipped egg and we’re looking for that kind of stuff too. If the hatchling is alive, we will assess that hatchling and hopefully let it go.”

• For certain endangered species of sea turtles, a sample of unhatched eggs may be collected and sent to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) for testing. Otherwise, the contents are returned to the nest cavity before filling it in, according to Valek.

“We don’t need the eggs for any reason, and they act as a good fertilizer for the beach,” Valek said. 

While the recent Okaloosa Island nest evaluations showed promising hatch rates, some other nests this season have seen lower success. 

“We did have a nest that did not hatch,” Valek noted. “There were 107 whole eggs and one hatched egg that we evaluated this past Sunday. Some of these percentages are lower than we would like to see. But we’re also having some high percentage hatchings. That’s Mother Nature.”

To compensate, sea turtles lay multiple nests per season, increasing their overall reproductive success. The team also dealt with a case of hatchling disorientation from one nest on Okaloosa Island.

• “Almost all of the hatchlings went toward the land instead of the water,” Valek said. “Something as small as a light inside of a condo with open windows could cause them to become disoriented. That’s why we stress so much to shut your lights off and close your curtains.”

Thankfully, the team’s daily monitoring allowed them to find and recover the affected hatchlings.

“We were able to follow their tracks and actually recover a handful of the disoriented hatchlings and they were brought to the Gulfarium CARE Center and they were safely released,” Valek added.

For beachgoers fortunate enough to spot hatchlings emerging from a nest, it is crucial not to interfere or disrupt their journey. The Okaloosa County Coastal Resource team offered these tips:

• Watch from a distance 
• Allow hatchlings to crawl to the water independently  
• Leave hatchlings undisturbed in their nest
• Keep all lights off, including phone flashlights 
• Avoid flash photography or video

All of the nest evaluation work conducted by this group is permitted through the FWC Marine Turtle Program under MTP# 23-033. Disoriented hatchlings should be reported immediately to the FWC by calling 1-888-404-FWCC.

GIVING BACK

Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation donates $3.4 Million to 16 local children’s charities

Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation has donated $3.4 million to 16 children’s charities in Northwest Florida following another successful year of fundraising.

Funding was awarded in a private check presentation ceremony at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort and Spa on August 31.

• To date, DCWAF has donated more than $31 million help to children in need in Northwest Florida since its inception in 2005. 

“This year’s contribution is truly a testament to the philanthropic spirit of the DCWAF community,” said Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation President Karah Fridley-Young. “These funds will have a profound impact on the lives of thousands of children, and we are grateful for the opportunity to support our charity partners; all of whom are doing important work within our community.”

The 2023 recipients of Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation funds include:

AMIkids Emerald Coast received $125,000 to fund a GED program for at risk students between the ages of 16 – 24.

Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast received $200,000 to fund a new CT scanner to help diagnose and accurately treat pediatric patients in the emergency department.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Emerald Coast received $200,000 to allow 285 students from low-income or single parent households to attend programming for one full year. The programming is designed to provide unique opportunities to learn, grow, and recognize youth for their achievements in an effort to steer them clear of personal failure.

Children in Crisis received $200,000 to fund the facilitation of housing for abused, neglected, and abandoned children. On-site housing provides stability, shelter, house parents, food, clothing, and necessary items to help children live a safe and healthy lifestyle over the next year.

Children’s Volunteer Health Network received $250,000 to fund and serve underinsured and uninsured children in need of dental care.

Ellison McCraney Ingram Foundation received $200,000 to fund scholarships for teens that have received help from at least one DCWAF charity partner in their lifetime.

Emerald Coast Autism Center received $315,000 to support the ECAC Phase II Learning Center Capital Campaign which will provide a new building for teens entering the Transition to Work program and in turn allow the Autism Center more space on their primary campus to serve young children on the spectrum in need of behavioral therapy.  

Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center received $300,000 to support mental health therapy programs, the case advocacy program that facilitates a child-friendly atmosphere offering counseling, family services, and coordination of investigations for child abuse and neglect, and the CARES prevention program that educates and empowers students and adults with information and strategies to prevent, recognize, and respond appropriately to all types of child abuse and exploitation.

Habitat for Humanity of Walton County received $300,000 to fund three new homes for families in Walton County with the expected impact of 3,650 annual nights of safe and secure housing for the children of the recipient families.

Mental Health Association of Okaloosa and Walton Counties received $150,000 to fund the Brain Health Program geared toward early identification, assessment, and treatment for approximately 35 uninsured students ages 12 to 21 who experience mental health or substance abuse issues.

Opportunity Place, Inc. received $150,000 to fund immediate housing for homeless children and their families to ensure they are safe and secure. These funds will facilitate a variety of child services including child-centered case management support, literacy program, shelter services, child and family assistance, and enrichment activities.

Point Washington Medical Clinic received $200,000 to fund the pediatric exam room and a teaching kitchen in their new facility designed to provide free medical care, education, and resources to uninsured families. 

Shelter House of Northwest Florida received $200,000 to fund mental health play therapy, counseling, and advocacy for youth affected by domestic violence as well as childcare and other program supplies.

The Arc of the Emerald Coast received $130,000 to fund the renovation and expansion of their facility warehouse into an after-school program center for children living with developmental differences.

Westonwood Ranch received $225,000 for scholarships for individuals with developmental differences as well as funding their micro business programs and expansion project.

Youth Village received $200,000 to fund program operations and scholarships for children from low-income households to attend their VPK and after-school programs as well as the renovation of two outdoor play areas.