Volunteers Help In Aftermath Of Tornado Outbreak

When things look bleakest, Hoosiers respond the most. The violent tornadoes that swept across Indiana last Friday destroyed homes and businesses. But since then, the Salvation Army has been coordinating response efforts since the early morning hours and is currently at work in three of the hardest hit counties in the state: Sullivan, Johnson, and Lake counties. These teams are providing immediate needs like food, hydration, and emotional and spiritual care. Those looking to support these disaster responses can give online at HelpSalvationArmy.org.

The Salvation Army of Sullivan, Indiana has mobilized disaster team members in response to Friday’s tornado outbreak, which left destruction across the community and damaged or destroyed over 200 structures. During the overnight hours The Salvation Army immediately opened shelter at City Hall, serving four displaced families in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Early Saturday morning The Salvation Army transitioned operational focus to feeding, hydration, and emotional and spiritual care across the impacted area. One mobile kitchen (canteen), located in the Silver Street Corridor, is providing meals those in a high impact area. A second roving unit is providing meals to impacted regions deeper within the county. The Salvation Army has served nearly 250 meals in the first few hours of this incident and is staging resources and personnel at First Christian Church.

Michele Smith, the Sullivan County Service Extension Coordinator, shared, “We are all trying to get our feet under us, these early moments of the disaster are very fluid, and it is nearly impossible for us to get into the highest impacted areas until emergency crews are able to clear roadways. Our mobile kitchens are ready to deploy to those areas to support first responders and survivors. Until then we will continue to do what we always do; which is meet human need in Jesus’s name.” She went on to say, “The community has already been very generous to us in these early moments and truly the best way people can support us right now is through financial donations.”

The Salvation Army of Sullivan is prepared to serve for as long as we are needed. With the feeding capacity of the mobile kitchen, the support of Frist Christian Church, and other faith communities The Salvation Army will do all it can to help Sullivan recover from this disaster.

Sullivan County is reporting that at least 200 homes damaged, so The Salvation Army will focus on both immediate relief for those who are displaced and long-term assistance during the rebuilding process. The EDS team is currently set up at First Christian Church at 105 N. Broad Street, where they fed those who sought emergency assistance early this morning and are preparing meals for distribution out in the community today. An EDS canteen has been brought up from Evansville to provide mobile delivery of food and water to affected areas of the county.

In Johnson County, Majors Mike and Mary Thomas of The Salvation Army’s Johnson County Red Shield Center are leading the EDS response. They have brought an EDS canteen donated by FedEx to a staging area in Whiteland, which is the community hit hardest by the storms. The canteen will serve as a mobile kitchen to provide food and hydration to emergency responders, utility workers, and displaced residents.

Bert Williams, Assistant Divisional EDS Director for The Salvation Army Indiana Division, is serving as the PIO for our response in Lake County. The EDS team in Lake County is led by Capt. Bersabe Vera, Area Commander for The Salvation Army of Northwest Indiana. She is joined by Lt. Joshua Bowyer of The Salvation Army’s Hammond-Munster corps and Capt. Gloria Pelayo of The Salvation Army’s East Chicago corps.

For the latest updates, follow The Salvation Army Indiana Division’s EDS team on Facebook at facebook.com/EmergencyDisasterServicesIndiana.

One hundred percent of monetary donations given to The Salvation Army Emergency Disasters Services is used for direct response in affected communities. To learn more about the EDS ministry and responses in the U.S. and around the globe, visit disaster.salvationarmyusa.org. To support The Salvation Army’s disaster relief efforts across the state, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY or make a secure donation online at HelpSalvationArmy.org. One hundred percent of your donation will go to directly serve those impacted by this event. To learn more about the EDS ministry and responses in the U.S. and around the globe, visit disaster.salvationarmyusa.org.