By Kyle Roberts
Armed with thousands of meals and nearly 30 volunteers, the Rolling Hills Ministries’ Disaster Relief team loaded five trucks and trailers to head south to offer assistance to victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in Florida.
The mission? Go where families are hurting and show the love of Jesus through service to the affected and feeding the hungry.
And it’s not the first hurricane-recovery task this year. In fact, just a few weeks ago, Director and CEO David Abernathy said the ministry only recently had returned after helping South Louisiana with Hurricane Francine.
“We went to Kenner after Louisiana was hit, and that was a short activation,” Abernathy said. “Then we were put on standby for Georgia, and we had sent volunteers to Georgia, but then the call came to go to Florida.”
The caravan headed to Pensacola, Fla., on Thursday to stay with a church at the midway point of the journey. Today, the ministry will be in the hurricane-affected areas of Florida, though the exact location is considered fluid given the potential closures due to the hurricanes’ aftermath.
“Our destination is Clearwater, Fla., in the Tampa area,” Abernathy said. “Of course, that was in the north eye-wall (of Milton), which was the stronger part of the storm Wednesday night. So we had not heard (Thursday) morning if that will still be the destination or if they’ll move it somewhere else, especially after all the tornado outbreaks they’ve had in the state.”
Part of the caravan is the Rolling Hills Mass Care Feeding Unit, which can serve between 20,000 – 30,000 meals a day, depending on the amount of volunteers that are serving in a particular area. Daniel Barnes serves as the RHM Bookstore manager and will be the kitchen lead for the trip — known as the “Blue Hat” in the ministry. Barnes will be charged with making sure food is served following safety guidelines and managing meal menus and organizing volunteers.
“I love doing disaster relief ministry,” Barnes said. “I love to serve people — Matthew 25:40 is my go-to verse where the King said “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” We’re going to people that have been affected (by these storms). And they’re hungry. They’re thirsty. They’re without shelter and there’s a lack of hope. We go and get to share with them that somebody loves them and God loves them.”
For Rusty Mabry, he’s served as a volunteer for over two decades with Rolling Hills Disaster Relief Team in efforts to bring hope to those suffering from natural disasters. Mabry will be one of the volunteers traveling to Florida for this one-week stint.
“This is my 23rd years helping with the team,” Mabry said. “There’s always people in need. I tell people all the time to come try it and experience the joy from helping other people. And it’s hard work, but the end result is helping people with just a bit of discomfort and sweat on our part.
“If you’re ever in a position to come, I encourage people to give it a try, also.”
Community members that wish to volunteer or donate to Rolling Hill Ministries can follow this link.
