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MHCC instructor, student affected by Gulf Coast hurricanes |
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Stephen Floyd |
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The devastating effects of the hurricanes in Florida have reached even
as far as Oregon. Literature and composition instructor Jody Marion Dittler was “chased
out” of Florida before Hurricane Francis hit. She was in Melbourne
on Cape Canaveral visiting relatives then the hurricane was classified
at level four and forecast to hit Florida. “Jim Cantori, who is
the hunk of the weather channel, came to our town,” said Dittler,
“and when Jim Cantori comes to town, that’s bad news because
he goes where the action is.” Dittler and her family decided to go to West Virginia to stay with
other relatives until the storm left. “We decided to err on the
side of caution” she said, “and left before I-95 was a parking
lot. We left two days before most people left and we didn’t really
have any trouble.” She was scheduled to fly out of Florida on the
day Francis made landfall, so she flew out of Ohio instead. While the hurricanes are driving some people out of Florida, they are
also drawing some there. Experts say the disaster relief efforts in
Florida are the largest this nation has ever seen. Many volunteers from
Oregon are going down to help, including MHCC student Tyler Furtado.
Furtado is a freshman who has taken classes here through high school
and studies metal-craft. He left with six other disaster relief volunteers of the Northwest
Baptist Convention on date here with help from the Salvation Army. “I
worked in a canteen, which is a mobile kitchen,” said Furtado.
”We served hot meals, like Salisbury, steak, chicken filets and
BBQ beef sandwiches.” His job was to serve food to the thousands of Floridians who drove
through the canteen. He was planning on driving the trucks that moved
the canteens, but did not meet the age requirements. Despite the seemingly perpetual hurricanes, Furtado said the weather was nice. “It was sunny, very few clouds,” he said. “I got a sunburn
and a tan.” But he didn’t volunteer for fun in the sun. “This
is an opportunity to help lots of people and that doesn’t come
around often if ever,” he said. But not all victims of the hurricanes were fortunate enough to have
access to relief stations. With power out across much of Florida, people
are having to do their grocery shopping with flashlights and can only
buy non-perishable foods. Dittler’s mother was one of the many
that went without power. “My mother returned to find minimal damage
to her house,” said Dittler. “She lost some trees, but there
was very minimal damage. She was without power for four or five days,
but that’s not a big deal.” This was not the first string of hurricanes Dittler and her family
have endured. As a child, she remembers boarding up the windows and
sitting in her house as the hurricanes passed over. “When I was
a kid,” said Dittler, “occasionally one would pass over that
wasn’t too strong and the eye, which is the center of the storm,
if the eye would pass over my parents would let us go out and play for
10 or 15 minutes because that’s period of calm. The sky looks so
low it looks like you could reach up and touch it. It’s a really
amazing phenomenon.” But for all the destruction they cause, Dittler says that hurricanes
are very important. “I secretly really love them,” said Dittler.
She said that hurricanes teach people that houses and posessions aren’t
important and that family and firends are what really matters. It is estimated that the people of Florida will have three years to learn their lessons from the hurricanes until they are fully recovered. In the meantime, thousands of volunteers, like Furtado, from all over the nation continue to help. Furtado is actually considering skipping fall term to go back and help. “School’s always going to be here,” he said. He also encourages others to volunteer. “If you can afford the time, go for it,” he said. |