TAMPA, Fla. — As the war in Israel continues, teams from Tampa-based nonprofit Project Dynamo picked up for a new mission.
The organization quickly mobilized to help rescue Americans in the region.
“How are we getting them out? We’re going to get them out, however we can," said Bryan Stern, co-founder of Project Dynamo. "We have maritime options as our last resort.”
ABC Action News caught up with Stern on Tuesday while in Israel. He said his sense on arrival was that people were on edge.
“My team of case managers, who are based in America, they’ve been awake for three days, just fielding hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of requests from Americans who are stuck," said Stern.
While handling those requests, Stern explained what goes into some of the planning during operations like this.
“We do a lot of work with density mapping, trying to figure out where, if I’ve got 1,000 people that are registered, I can’t do 1,000 in one shot, so we look for the concentrations of people, and based on need and threat is how we prioritize," said Stern. "Americans always come first, but even within the Americans, I fully expect that we’ll have over 1,000 people registered by tomorrow.”
Project Dynamo has a form to request evacuation help from Israel. As they manage this mission, the group is doing everything they can in uncertain times.
“I can see the sky through my window right here where I’m staying," said Stern. "I don’t see anything cooking off, but that doesn’t mean that that won’t change in 10 seconds, so the people at the airport recognize this, they understand this, and if they don’t live here, they want to go home.”
