Marco Patriots collect lumber during shortage to store for hurricane season

With hurricane season less than a month away, many people want to stock up on supplies to protect their homes. Now, there’s a shortage of lumber and the price has increased, which means that there could be less protection for your home.

Experts say taxes on lumber have already been increasing. When the pandemic first began, production also shut down. However, the housing demand didn’t slow down, causing the prices to go up.

Like the patriot he is, Matt Melican wants to keep his neighbors safe. Melican is the co-founder of the Marco Patriots Community Forum.

“We like to know that people can not necessarily rely on us, but count on us in an emergency,” Melican said.

The Marco Patriot Community Forum Facebook Group, the “us” he’s referring to, has over 15,000 members.

“We have people in all ranges and walks of life step up to the plate at the time of a disaster or crisis,” he said.

Now, with hurricane season less than a month away, they’re preparing for those who don’t have shutters or impact glass windows and doors.

As a group, the Marco Patriots are urging people to save their plywood for those who will need it when storms head our way.

“Being that we saw this increase in material prices, coupled with the timing of the hurricane season, we thought it would be smart to let our membership know to maybe think twice about throwing out that sheet of plywood,” Melican said.

Instead of throwing it out, the Marco Patriots will save the supplies you give them.

“We have secondary provisions to store plywood and we could certainly accommodate if they wanted to drop some off,” said Melican.

If you have supplies to donate, you can reach out to Marco Patriots here to do so.