Salvation Army Steps Up

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ben. Everybody at the Army's endbusy all weekend. Jeff, good morning,
Good morning, Gary, Good morningJim. And it was just really
good hear Terry's voice give me news. I was on my way home from
the office the other day and wastuned into Terry while my wife was watching
storm, you know, the storminformation on television as some of us in
Elkhorn kind of hunkered down. Buthe did a great job and k kfab

(00:23):
did just a wonderful job a stormcoverage. Thank you, Thank you,
Jeff. I would just give usa thumbnail if you can, of what
is available in the way of assistanceand what is still needed today. What
we're shifting to here in the communityof Omaha, first of all, is
a disaster. We have a disasterrelief center and today we're asking people not

(00:47):
to drop off any more supplies atour Bright Ideas location at one hundred and
fifty sixth than Blondeo, just eastof one hundred and fifty six in Blondo
We were overwhelmed by the love andsupport of people over the weekend dropped off
so many items including cash and waterand food and you know other items that
are going to be really important Todaywe're focused on distribution and we really want

(01:10):
to emphasize that anybody who has impactedanywhere in your listing area, whether it's
Omaha, Blair mind and Iowa orwherever, that they can stop by and
pick up supplies. And that's ourprimary focus today in Omaha as we also
try to reassess today what our nextsteps will be with the Salvation Army working
in partnership with a lot of otherorganizations here in town. But we're going

(01:32):
to try to put a delay atleast on what items were requesting to be
dropped off, and then hopefully laterin the week through Todd Andrews, our
communications director, will get information outon you know, other items that are
needed. Great for those who arein need. Give us locations. Best
location are there are several, Yeah, it's really a wonderful location. And

(01:53):
Bright Ideas Travis Freeman's business has offeredus his parking lot by Bright Ideas.
It's just I think it's a blockor two east of one hundred and fifty
sixth and Blonde. And again todaywe would really like for generous people who
want to drop items off to kindof avoid that area so people impacted by

(02:14):
the storm can stop by and pickup supplies. We're going to ask that
people bring along some form of anID just so they can demonstrate that it's
not somebody from outside of the stormarea. But again, I think we'll
recognize people who were hit by thisstorm and we'll want to help them out
today, and then the Salvation Armyis also going to be prepared to help
them out long term, because that'sreally what we do. We're there for

(02:36):
the long haul. We'll be therefor three months, six months, a
year, whatever these people need,you bet. Jeff beckmanweathers for another minute
for the Salvation Army. What wasit like for you and your folks during
the heat of it on Friday afternoonand evening, Joe, Well, unfortunately,
Gary, our team that we workwith has had three different disasters type

(02:57):
situations. The first was, ofcourse, the flood in nineteen The second
was COVID, which we had tomove in a hurry on. But this
tornado hit so quickly. We couldsee the floodwaters rising and we knew for
a day or two that was goingto hit. You know it, like
with every other relief organization, ithit really hard. And what I'll say
is the Salvation Army has a systemthat works. We have people who are

(03:19):
Salvation Army officers who are trained inthis area and they really know how we
respond. My job is actually probablyone of the easier ones because I just
sit back and try to figure outways that we can create, you know,
raise funds and awareness and have dropoffs. But you know, we
have a lot of people who areout in the trench is working really hard,
Gary, and they're mobilized rather quickly. Sometimes we have to be patient

(03:40):
because our local authorities just don't callthe Salvation Army in to provide relief services
until it's safe and until they've donetheir great work. So we've had to
be patient. One other thing ifI could, Gary, and I know
your times limited, you have themayor coming up. We're also busy in
Washington County today with disaster assistants.We have a center there that's opening at
eight o'clock at the Lake Arrowhead Officeat forty eight sixty one Lakeland Drive.

(04:04):
And I'm sure if you're in theBlair area you know where that is.
And again that's that's a disaster assistancecenter, so we want people to know
about that and those operating hours inWashington County and Blair today will be eight
am to seven am. In ourhours here in Omaha today are ten am
till three pm. So if youneed supplies, give us a little time
to get organized this morning, butthen start stopping by at ten am.

(04:27):
Excellent. And but one of thebig messages this morning is thanks to everybody.
We don't need anything extra right now. We'll let you know. Jeff,
thanks Gary, and I'm going tothank you Gary. You bet,
I appreciate the time. Jeff Beckman