Salvation Army Rescues the Rescuers
Having served over 8,876 hot meals, 10,021 drinks, and 8,481 snacks in Mississippi and Louisiana since Monday, The Salvation Army has begun ramping up feeding services in hardest hit parts of the Gulf South. Our Birmingham canteen is in New Orleans feeding literally thousands of displaced people. Along with the feeding, has come emotional and spiritual support. Salvation Army crews have ministered to almost 600 people with emotional and spiritual care. Below is a perfect example of that and a great story.
Gulfport, Miss (August 31, 2012) — Seven years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the town of Pearlington, on the Mississippi/Louisiana state line, Hurricane Isaac visited, leaving flooded homes and shattered nerves. Throughout the day on Thursday, police and firefighters from Pearlington sent out pleas for help to anyone who would listen. Inundated with the rising waters of the Pearl River, for many it was déjà vu.Could this really be happening? Was Pearlington once again the forgotten remnant of a Hurricane? After running search and rescue operations throughout the day, residents and first responders were running low on fuel, food and patience. In some cases it came to downright begging on the streets. At the end of their rope, firefighters made one last-ditch plea to their comrades in the Gulfport Fire Department. “Get The Salvation Army, they may be our only hope.” Within minutes of receiving the plea from Pearlington, The Salvation Army dispatched a Mobile Feeding unit staffed with volunteers from Hattiesburg, Mississippi to support relief operations in Pearlington. Stocked with hot meals, coffee, water and an eagerness to serve, the unit made the forty mile journey. Upon arriving in Pearlington, Salvation Army crews reported that “some fire fighters became a bit emotional as we pulled in. “In a reversal of roles, the rescuers became the rescued.”
“The Salvation Army came to our rescue,” exclaimed one weary firefighter. From Pascagoula to New Orleans, the story was much of the same: communities cut off from everyday comforts, received more than just food and water from The Salvation Army. They received the assurance that they were not forgotten.
Salvation Army crews will stay as long as needed in Pearlington and many other communities in Mississippi and Louisiana, with hot meals, hydration, flood kits and the love of God.
