CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. - Volunteers in Cumberland County spent the day preparing items that will be shipped to areas that could be hit by Hurricane Dorian.
Items like clothespins, cleaning supplies, and gloves are packed into buckets. The cleaning buckets were assembled by volunteers at Mission Central, as Hurricane Dorian, a new Category 2 hurricane spins off the coast of Florida.
"They have all kinds of supplies in them that when you have a flood that hits your home," said Mission Central Executive Director Hope Harrison. "You have what you need in the immediate aftermath."
It's unclear if the hurricane will make landfall in the U.S. and what destruction it may cause. If it does, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, also known as UMCOR, will take the cleaning buckets to areas hit hard by Dorian and distribute them to people who need them most.
For volunteers, it's hard to put into words what it's like to pack up these buckets knowing they will go to people dealing with devastation.
"It's bigger than me by a lot. I don't really think too much about it. It's just so much bigger than me," said Mission Central volunteer Jessica Budd. "It's kind of awesome to be able to help so many people. I really hope each individual person will be blessed by each of these buckets."
Volunteers at Mission Central have been packing cleaning buckets since it partnered with UMCOR in 2002. Last year, buckets packed at Mission Central went to people in the Carolinas hit by Hurricane Florence, and people in Florida where Hurricane Michael was the first category 5 hurricane to impact the Florida panhandle.
"We hear on the alternate end of people who have already gone through it," said Harrison. "How much it's really been a godsend for them to be able to get that and have that little ray of hope as they're facing a devastating situation."
More information on how to donate these buckets and the items needed can be found here.