Mutual Aid Benevolent Association

10/10/2026

City of Bay Minette Advisory

As we navigate the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias, our emergency response crews are actively out in the community assessing damage to roadways, power lines, and infrastructure throughout the city. Our utility partners will also be working diligently to restore services to those experiencing outages.

Reporting Non-Emergency Issues:

If you need to report non-life-threatening damage, down tree limbs, or hazards, please contact our reporting line at 251-580-2559. For immediate life-threatening emergencies, always call 911.

Stay Alert:

Even though Hurricane Isaias has passed, please remain cautious and vigilant. High winds have left many tree limbs, branches, and structures unstable, which can still pose hazards.

We are grateful that God kept His hand over the City of Bay Minette last night. Thank you for your patience, cooperation, and neighbors helping neighbors as our crews work to keep our community safe.

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

The sound comes back first, that little sizzle when the straightening comb touched a dab of grease, and then the careful stillness of a child told to hold her ear. 💇🏾‍♀️ Saturday night in a lot of Black Alabama kitchens meant getting your hair done for church in the morning.

The comb heated on the eye of the gas stove while a towel went around your shoulders. Your mother or your grandmother turned your head gently with one hand and worked in sections, and you learned young to trust that hand and sit still, because the one thing everybody feared was that comb getting too close to the neck. There were jars of blue grease, a rattail comb, and a radio playing low. The whole room smelled warm.

It was never just about hair. It was time, close and unhurried, when a grown woman gave you her full attention and talked to you or hummed while she worked. 🎶 You heard family news and gentle fussing and sometimes the best advice you would ever get, all from a kitchen chair. By the end you felt made over, ready to be seen in your good clothes the next day.

Sunday morning you walked into church with your hair pressed and shining, and somebody's mother always said you looked just like somebody. 🙏🏾 The press-and-curl in the kitchen was its own quiet ceremony, handed down from woman to girl, and plenty of grown folks today can still feel that warm comb and that steady hand just by closing their eyes.

10/09/2026

One of Alabama's most important schools began with a group of formerly enslaved men who decided their children would learn to read. 📚 In Marion, in Perry County, those founders pooled what little they had just after the Civil War, and the school they started grew into Lincoln Normal School.

Lincoln trained Black teachers at a time when the state would not, and it sent them out across the Black Belt to open classrooms in churches and cabins and borrowed rooms. The teacher-training branch eventually moved to Montgomery and grew into Alabama State University, so a school started by freedpeople in a small town helped seed one of the state's great universities. 🎓 The Marion campus kept going for generations as a point of pride for Black families for miles around.

Its graduates carried Marion's name a long way. Coretta Scott walked those grounds before she became Coretta Scott King, and so did Jean Childs before she became Jean Childs Young. A town that most travelers pass without stopping helped shape people who would help shape the country.

The picture above is a respectful reconstruction of that early schoolhouse era, not a real photograph, meant to honor the students and teachers who showed up with slates and hope. 🕊️ The lesson Marion teaches is simple and stubborn, that a community that builds a school is building a future it may never fully see. That faith, passed hand to hand, is a big part of the Black Alabama story.

10/08/2026

🌪️ 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝘽𝙖𝙡𝙙𝙬𝙞𝙣 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙩🌪️

As we closely monitor the tropical system expected to impact the Gulf Coast and Lower Alabama in the coming days, the North Baldwin Chamber encourages all businesses, employees, and families to take time now to prepare for potential severe weather. Current forecasts indicate the system could strengthen as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast this weekend, bringing the possibility of heavy rain, strong winds, flooding, power outages, and isolated tornadoes. [nhc.noaa.gov], [ema.alabama.gov]

✅ 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭:
• Review your emergency response and continuity plans. • Back up important business records and data. • Secure outdoor furniture, signs, equipment, and loose materials. • Check generators, fuel supplies, and emergency lighting. • Charge phones, laptops, and backup batteries. • Ensure employees know emergency communication procedures. • Monitor weather updates from the National Weather Service and local emergency management agencies.

✅ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬:
• Stock up on essential supplies, medications, and bottled water. • Have flashlights and extra batteries readily available. • Keep vehicles fueled and emergency kits prepared. • Know your evacuation zones and routes if you live in a flood-prone area. • Stay connected to trusted weather sources for the latest forecasts and warnings.

The safety of our businesses, employees, and residents is our top priority. Taking a few simple precautions today can help protect your people, property, and operations tomorrow.

We encourage everyone to remain vigilant, stay informed, and look out for your neighbors and fellow businesses throughout this weather event. Please pay attention to our local officials and Baldwin County EMA.
𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞, 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐧. 💙

Management Commision

10/08/2026

I have issued a state of emergency for 40 counties.

Forecasts continue to show the real likelihood that the tropical system brewing in the Gulf could impact Alabama as a hurricane as early as Friday.

While I hope for minimal impacts, we must take preparations seriously.

10/08/2026

CANCELLED! This Saturday's food distribution in Stockton has been cancelled out of an abundance of caution as we watch Isaias, currently a Tropical storm, developing in the Gulf. Please share this message with family and friends. We are encouraging Baldwin County families who need food assistance to visit one of our Tuesday Morning Distributions at our Spanish Fort Facility on Hwy 31 between 9-11:30am.
Please prepare for the storms impacts and pray for windshear to tear it apart.