BLUE ASH, Ohio - The Tri-State is doing everything it can to help Hurricane Michael survivors.
The Advanced Disaster Response Team for Matthew 25: Ministries pulled out in a convoy of trucks Saturday morning headed for hard-hit areas in the Florida Panhandle with donations and hope.
It’s a quick turnaround for volunteers who had just been home three days after assisting Hurricane Florence survivors in the Carolinas.
“It is a little bit more difficult to quickly turn around,” said CEO Tim Mattey, “but as we said, we do this all year long, so the team is ready to go.”
Mattey doesn’t know when they’re coming back.
“It’s hard to prepare for something like this because it’s complete devastation,” Mattey said. “It’s more of a cleanup site to completely start over than just patching stuff here and there. It’s going to be a rebuilding process for years to come.”
Matthew 25: Ministries has shipped 26 truckloads — almost half a million pounds — of aid to partners in the Florida disaster areas with more headed that way.
“It’s the third worst hurricane to hit down there,” Mattey said.
Even though its team has responded to large disasters since 1997 and domestic disasters since 2005, it never gets easier.
“I think that’s what inspires them to keep going because they know people care about them,” he said.
Matthew 25 got help from P&G and Cintas. The public can help by contributing money and supplies.
You can donate money here.
Learn how to donate supplies here.
Here’s a list of supplies that Matthew 25 is accepting:
- Personal Care Products
- Cleaning supplies
- Paper products
- Toilet paper, paper towels etc.
- Baby and infant supplies
- First-Aid items
- Clean-up Supplies
- Candles and Flashlights
