ATHOL — Cindy Kennedy of Phillipston boarded a flight on Monday to Florida as part of the Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services helping communities hit by Hurricane Helene.

Kennedy, a member of the Salvation Army Athol Corps, is joined by Luz Caban and Pam Houghton for a two-week deployment to Live Oak, Florida, a city of 7,000 which has been devastated by the hurricane, which made landfall in Florida last Thursday night. Caban is a member of the Salvation Army’s New Bedford team and Houghton is part of the Newburyport team.

Kennedy, who called from Logan Airport Monday morning, said the team would provide emotional and spiritual care to the residents of Live Oak, a service which she said has a strong impact. They’ll also provide cleanup kits.

“A lot of people don’t realize what they are going through,” Kennedy said, recalling a previous deployment to New Jersey following a hurricane where she worked with a person who had to choose between saving their children over helping a stranger trapped in their vehicle by floodwaters.

Kennedy said the Salvation Army teams remain well after the disaster is over, and it’s when people have had time to process what has happened that they sometimes open up more.

“The biggest thing is we’re there throughout (the disaster),” Kennedy said.

This will be Kennedy’s fourth deployment, the previous ones being to New York, Vermont and New Jersey for flooding and hurricanes. She’s been told that Live Oak is a scene of “devastation,” that power is still out and they should bring their own bedding.

When asked why she decided to volunteer for the team, Kennedy said, “Usually if you care about people, it’s in your head, and it’s something that you do.”

According to the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, more than two million residents of the state have been without power, although all but 144,596 outages have been restored. The governor has declared a state of emergency in 61 counties. The Florida National Guard has activated approximately 3,900 service members for Hurricane Helene response operations. It is estimated that more than 100 people have died since Helene made landfall.

Emily Mew, director of The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services in Massachusetts, said that along with the team to Live Oak, an Incident Management Assistance Team has been sent to Georgia. She described her role as assisting other divisions of the Salvation Army when they’re in need to help beyond what they are capable of. In the case of the current disaster, she said emotional and spiritual care teams were requested.

“We’ll be sending more personnel from multiple divisions,” Mew said.

Teams are only deployed for two to three weeks and if needed, other teams will be sent once their deployment is over.

Along with emotional and spiritual care, other teams have been deployed to provide mass feeding, sheltering, cleanup support and personal hygiene kits, according to information provided by the Salvation Army.

“The Salvation Army’s presence in every zip code of the United States makes us uniquely capable of mobilizing from anywhere in the country for a disaster event like this,” stated Robert Myers III, Emergency Disaster Services coordinator for The Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory, in a statement. “We were preparing response efforts before the storm made landfall, and we will be helping these communities recover long after the flood waters recede.”

Financial donations can be made online through www.HelpSalvationArmy.org or by phone at 1-800-725-2769. Donations also can be mailed to The Salvation Army, P.O. BOX 1959, Atlanta, GA 30301. Please designate Disaster Relief – Hurricane Helene on all checks.

At this time, The Salvation Army is not accepting in-kind donations due to the significant shipping costs. For more information on The Salvation Army’s response, visit www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org.

Max Bowen can be reached at mbowen@recorder.com or 413-930-4074.