Members of the Jacksonville Salvation Army will be headed out Friday to areas hit hard by Hurricane Michael.
The Disaster Response Unit, which recently helped with Hurricane Florence relief in the Carolinas, will travel to the Florida Panhandle. The team left at noon.
“This hurricane season has been especially dramatic, and the damage has been extensive," said Major Bert Tanner, area commander for The Salvation Army of Northeast Florida. "We ask for prayers not only for our local teams headed out to respond, but for the survivors in the Panhandle. This will clearly be a long-term recovery effort."
Tanner said his team was told to bring air mattresses and sleeping bags because there are no hotels available.
The response unit is packed with supplies.
"We can cook on here. We have all the utensils, all the pots and pans to cook on here," Tanner explained.
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The Salvation Army will be responding with food, water, emotional and spiritual care for first responders and survivors.
The unit has enough food to prep about 500 meals, along with clean-up kits, which Tanner said are the most basic way they can get a family started with rebuilding.
"A lot of times they just want some words of encouragement so we give them just that," Lt. Dominic Blandford said.
If you want to help victims of this natural disaster, you can go to https://salvationarmyflorida.org/michael.