Local Salvation Army Capt.Jason Perdieu is serving as an emotional and spiritual care officer in Florida as part of the Salvation Army’s disaster relief services after Hurricane Michael devastated the area earlier this month.
Perdieu arrived in Florida on Oct. 21, and will spend a total of 14 days working, returning home Nov. 4.
Hurricane Michael devastated parts of Florida when it made landfall almost three weeks ago as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 155 mph.
Perdieu said the command base he is stationed at is in Apalachicola, Florida, and they are also serving surrounding areas including Mexico Beach, Wewahitchka, Port St. Joe and St. Joe Beach.
“Our command center, where our base is and where we hold all of our meetings, is in Eastern Standard Time, but all of the serving, feeding and work that we do is in Central Standard Time,” Perdieu said. “So it’s really throwing our bodies and our brains off.”
According to the Salvation Army’s website, they deploy specially-trained individuals to offer emotional and spiritual care to rescue workers and disaster survivors during a disaster, such as a hurricane, flood, fire, etc.
“We are providing holistic ministries as far as feeding and cleaning and giving out supplies and lots of emotional support and care,” he said.
Perdieu said in his department, they have about 12 to 15 workers that minister through people, pray to people, distribute hygiene kits, cleanup kits, food and “various supplies that they may need while they’re rebuilding.”
Perdieu said he has seen a lot of devastation while serving in Florida.
“One thing we found is that, when we were coming in and we saw all of the devastation, trees knocked down and just piles of debris and rubble, you’ll find palm trees that are just standing firm,” Perdieu said. “Palm trees were created to withstand hurricane forces and they’re very rarely uprooted. They can bend, they’re resilient … and that’s what we found of the people (facing the devastation). They are so blessed and grateful for groups like the Salvation Army who are coming to help them.”
Perdieu added that it is really inspiring to see people that have gone through such devastation working together to rebuild their lives.
Perdieu said the hardest part of working the disaster relief is seeing the families that are having to separate. He said a lot of families are splitting up to go to different family members, because “there’s not really anywhere stable.”
He said it is very rare that someone would be deployed during a disaster to serve more than once in a two month period.
“Most of our disaster crews only serve for 14 days because that’s about the limit that your body can really handle it,” he said. “Any Salvation Army officer can be, on a moment’s notice, assigned and whisked away for two weeks.”
Perdieu said with roads being washed out, donating clothes and food causes transportation issues. “Then you’ve got to separate it and sort it, and that’s extra work,” he said.
When it comes to donating to the disaster relief, Perdiue said they have been telling people to send money.
“What we like to do is stimulate the economy that’s already here to use those funds to help businesses who have been hurt,” he said. “That way it does two things, one we don’t have to worry about transporting it and getting it here and (two) it helps the businesses who have lost out because of the storm.”
He added that if someone was wanting to donate to the disaster relief services, to contact the local Salvation Army.
Perdieu said one aspect that has really touched him while working the disaster relief is the amount of dog food and cat food that has been donated.
“Sometimes people forget that our pets are part of the family,” he said. “When you see a lot of animals misplaced and people are looking for their dog or cat, just knowing that people are also looking to donate to help take care of their animals … I thought that was really neat.”
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at [email protected] or 870-862-6611.