Salvation Army Milton and Helene - Major Ted Morris

The Salvation Army has been assisting survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the Tampa Bay area and throughout affected areas. Army members from New York and other areas have been working along with the organization's year-round presence. We speak with Major Ted Morris of the Salvation Army's Clearwater Corps Command. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird Beyond the News as we cover the continuing
recovery efforts following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The Salvation Army,
of course is a presence year round in the Tampa
Bay area, but right now they're bringing a lot of
resources to bear to help in supporting hurricane recovery and
in supporting survivors of Hurricanes Helen and Milton. Major Ted

(00:23):
Morris of the Salvation Army's Clearwater Core Command is on
the line with us, and Major Morris thank you very
much for joining us on Beyond the News.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you for having me, Gordon, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well, we know about your efforts year round to help
people who have been impacted by tragedies and disasters. Tell
us about the resources and the numbers of people that
you're bringing to bear here in the Tampa Bay area
to support those who've gone through Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, the Salvation Army knows there's a lot of agencies
and a lot of church are doing a lot of
things in this community. What we try to do provide
hot meals and food for those who are most greatly damaged,
for example, from power outages or from those who've lost
their homes. So we have units that food truck essentially

(01:14):
food trucks that deliver hot meals and shelf stable meals
all over the city. We have about ten or twelve
of these units in the Tampa Bay area going around
Tampa Bay. In the affected areas Tampa Bay and the
greater area, we've served over seventy five thousand meals since
this hurricane came through.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
How many people do you have working in the greater
affected area to help the.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Survivors in the affected area, Roader Tampa Bay is probably
about one hundred people in the Tampa Bay area, mainly
Penols County, Hillsboro, PASCO. About thirty or forty people who
work with the Salvation Army volunteers and people who are
deployed from around the country to support us here.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Now. One of the areas that you've been involved with
is as far as helping out with meals, is assisting
the people who lived in that apartment complex off of
Drew Street in clear Water who went through basically being
flooded out of their homes, many of whom are still
trying to relocate or in the process of relocating and

(02:13):
are essentially homeless. Right now talk with us if you
could about your efforts to support that community and what
an impact this has been for them.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh. Absolutely, it's been life changing for them, and you know,
there's a lot of agencies trying to work with them.
Our role is for primaries provide food for them, So
we do have one of our food trucks stationed right
across the street at the Best Buy there providing meals
for them throughout the day, so that as they try
to put their lives together, at least food will hopefully
be some need that's met to the Salvation Army.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
How long do you expect to have this large presence,
ramped up presence here supporting Helene and Milton.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
The team do we have in the Tampa Bay area
has actually been brought to us from New York and
we have people from Canada on that team. So they'll
probably be here through the end of next week, and
then if we feel the need to continue, we'll have
another team come in to support us. In the long term,
my guests would be another two to three weeks at
the very minimum.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
So continue continuing presence here in the Tampa Bay area.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, yes, And as you mentioned, the Salvation Army is
here before the storm, during the storm, and after the storm.
So we do have our social services office here in
clear Water and in the greater Tampa Bay area for
those who have need that can come to us. Even
after the disaster presence is gone. We still provide social
services throughout the year, and we'll be seeing them, I'm sure,
as they come to our doors for.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Those who are in need of services. For those who
would like to support what you're doing, what are the
best ways to get in touch with you?

Speaker 2 (03:46):
They can get online and go to help Salvation Army
dot org. Help Salvation Army dot org, or if they
want to talk to somebody, they can call one eight
hundred sal Army and we can provide the avenues for
them helping us partnering with us at the phone number.
Probably they can provide locations as to where they can
receive help as well.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Major Ted Morris with the Clearwater Core Command of the
Salvation Army. They are on the ground assisting people who
have survived Helene and Milton, providing meals to them and
helping them deal with that part of the disaster. Major Morris,
thank you very much for joining us on Beyond the
News Gordon, thank

Speaker 2 (04:24):
You so much, God bless you, sir.