MARYVILLE, Tenn. — We met Ginger Pettit back in March. Her parents and her 14-year-old daughter were stuck on a cruise off the coast of France.
"I would lie if I said I was not scared," she said. "I was a little scared."
According to Pettit her family was eventually able to dock and catch a flight to Atlanta and then to Knoxville. The three of them made it back in East Tennessee on March 27.
Pettit said they immediately went into self-isolation. On April 9, they joined the rest of the family in abiding by the Safer at Home Order.
"Everybody's great, we're just a little stir crazy," she said.
Back when her family was still praying to reach the shore, Pettit started a Facebook page for stranded Americans. The page is still up a month later and people all over the world are using it to either find their loved ones or to inquire about getting help.
"We've got people from Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Morocco, Kenya," Pettit said. "It's really a global community."
The page has over 100 members, and it is growing daily. Some of those members are stranded away from home, others are the family members of those stuck abroad.
"It's been nice in the sense that people are helping make sense of it," Pettit added.
What started as a resource for her and a few others turned into a bigger mission.
"What's not great is there are people still out there stranded," she said.
Unlike Pettit's family, many Americans are still stuck overseas. Pettit said money and getting on flights continue to be a barrier.
"There's really no way," she said. "Unless they get a repatriation flight from the state department, there's no way to get out."
Over the last month, she's met families shelling out their last dollars just to make it back to the states.
"I know a family of three who had to pay more than $1,000 for each ticket and one was a baby," Pettit says. "That worries me."
She also said others are struggling to get their money back and many are just trying to get some help from the State Department.
"At minimum, people need to be counted in the STEP program and people really want it to be acknowledged that they are still out there," she said.
STEP is a federal program in which the state registers Americans who are abroad with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
There is still a long road ahead for many families. But Pettit's goal is for her Facebook page to provide some comfort to those that need it.
"We need the State Department to see this page and to see that there are people still trying to get home," Petit said.
As someone who knows what it feels like to be praying for her family to come home, Petit doesn't plan on giving up and she wants those in that situation not to give up either.
"Even though my family is home, I started the page and I'll continue the page to make sure those people don't feel alone," Pettit said.
The page, Americans Stranded Abroad -- Covid 2020, is open to families and their loved ones stranded and looking for support.