Red Cross & Salvation Army crews helping Hurricane Ian victims

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – From a small room at the Salvation Army’s headquarters in Atlanta a group of about 10 people are laser-focused on screens, big and small, helping monitor dozens of teams ready to lend a hand to those in need during Hurricane Ian.

“This storm is so big that we’re actually pulling a strike team together of canteens from as far away as Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi,” said Jeff Jellets of the Salvation Army.

As of Thursday, the Salvation Army had 27 units positioned in the hardest hit areas of Florida. Places like Ft Myers, where the destruction is unimaginable, pose big challenges for organizations trying to help.

“That command team is actually going physically to those hardest hit areas to make face-to-face contact with those Salvation Army officers so we can have that conversation, make sure we have a path to get to them and start bringing those additional resources in,” said Jellets.

While the Salvation Army feeds upwards of 20,000 people a day. The American Red Cross is housing them. More than 500 volunteers, many of them from Georgia, have set up dozens of shelters.

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“Big spaces, we have cots, we have blankets,” said Holly Winner of the American Red Cross, Georgia.

It’s not just non-profits on the frontlines. Atlanta-based The Home Depot initiating its Hurricane Command Center. Staff have been working around the clock to make sure their stores in Florida are stocked.

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“We preposition goods along the coast. Depending on where that [a storm] happens, it’s moved primarily by truck,” Pete Capel of The Home Depot.

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