Dunkin the Therapy Dog responds to Hurricane Milton
After ten days of serving during the Hurricane Helene relief efforts, we returned home to Huntsville, exhausted but thankful. Yet, as we watched the weather reports, it became clear that another major hurricane was on its way to Florida. I unpacked, repacked, and prayed, asking, “Lord, will you be so gracious to send us again?”
On October 16, less than a week after returning home, Dunkin and I were headed back to Florida. This deployment, however, turned out to be much different from the first.
We stopped in Perry, Florida, to rest at our host home, which served as a halfway point before continuing to Lakeland, Florida. Located inland near the center of the state, Lakeland was just west of where Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota as a Category 3 storm on October 9.
This deployment allowed us to spend time with many volunteers and emergency disaster response staff who had been working tirelessly during this extremely active hurricane season. God provided opportunities to bring moments of joy and relief to those who needed it most. We visited the Disaster Response Center in Tampa, the Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC) in Largo, and a canteen site in Clearwater.
This trip also gave us the chance to visit family. My mother and brother were minimally impacted by the storm, but it was a blessing to check on them, assist with cleanup, and have a safe place to rest. Once again, God provided housing just when we needed it!
Throughout this deployment, we logged nearly 2,000 miles due to the distance between our housing and the impacted areas. On October 21, we returned to Huntsville with grateful hearts. We were thankful to have served, thankful for the support of The Salvation Army, and thankful for the incredible work they continue to do in communities in need.
We left Florida knowing the recovery work was far from finished but confident that The Salvation Army would remain there, serving those in need. The last canteen we visited was stationed at a Salvation Army Corps. That church will continue to provide both physical and spiritual care for its community, long after the immediate disaster response ends.
What’s next? We rest and prepare, knowing another storm will come—but not knowing when.