LITITZ, Pa. — After Hurricane Milton ravaged Florida on Wednesday night, groups from across the country are heading south to help. One group based out of Pennsylvania, however, was already there when it hit.
The Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), based out of Lititz, has a crew of 13 volunteers based in western Florida to respond to hurricanes. The group was forced to flee when Milton hit.
"They evacuated and went south to get out of the storm's path, and now as we speak, they are driving back to Port Charlotte, which is on the Gulf Coast," said Kevin King, the executive director of the MDS. "We're seeing scenes of debris that homeowners have set out already along the road and some of the debris from previous hurricanes, so it adds to the congestion on these roads."
The crew will assist with debris removal, with more volunteers likely on the way.
MDS also traveled to Asheville, North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene, where King himself surveyed the destruction.
"Never in my 20 years have we ever been so closely working behind search and rescue," King said. "The fire chief every day would give us an assignment to clear these mountain passes, mountain roads, getting the debris [and] getting the trees so that homeowners could get back home."
MDS has 200-300 volunteers working nationwide at a given time, with more than half of them either Amish or Mennonite.
King says he and the Service are motivated by their own service to God.
"We are blessed people, and we are experiencing the generosity of many," King said. "That's enabled us to give that compassion, seek obedience to the scripture and respond out of gratefulness to God."