MADISON COUNTY, FL (WTXL) — Some Madison County families are heading into a third holiday season without a permanent home, still displaced by back-to-back storms. A local business is now working to help fill a critical gap in their recovery.
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Edge of Town is raising money throughout October during bingo nights for local organizations, including Starfish Disaster Recovery, which supports families still waiting to return home. On Thursday, October 8th, the business is dedicating its bingo night specifically to that effort.
"We always like to say they enter as strangers and they leave as friends and then they become family. This is family." Kym Eggers said.
Eggers, co-owner of Edge of Town, said that sense of community is part of why they opened the business — they wanted a place that could serve the community and help it recover.
Florida Commerce says Hurricane Helene caused more than $1 billion in damage in Madison County. The state's disaster recovery plan says Helene's high winds tore roofs from buildings and brought down trees and power lines across the county.
That damage still shapes where people like Janette Christian live today.
In May 2026, ABC 27's Lentheus Chaney first reported on Christian and how Starfish stepped in to help her. Christian still lives in a shed behind her storm-damaged trailer.
"I didn't have nowhere else to go, so I had to end up moving in this shed." Christian said.
Thanks to Starfish and people who reached out after seeing her story, plans for Janette's new home are now being finalized. But she is not the only one — many other families in Madison are still waiting for a permanent home. When they finally get their keys, they will still need to replace what they lost inside: furniture, beds, tables, chairs, and other household items that many families lost in the storms.
That is the gap these bingo nights are helping Starfish fill.
"When they get in their new homes, they're gonna need all the essentials, the towels, the sheets, the toothbrushes stuff like that. These people will come together and help this community shows up because they know that we'll be there for them too if they ever need us." Eggers said.
Donations from the Oct. 8 bingo night will help Starfish support Madison County families as they work to get back home.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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