“Hope is all there is. There’s no greater gift. It’s a servant’s gift that volunteers choose to share.”
— TERI COBB, DISASTER SURVIVOR TURNED VOLUNTEER
going to take whatever’s bad and make it good.” That’s why, four years later, Cobb is working to clear trees from an elderly couple’s long driveway in a rural area outside Myakka City, Florida, where Hurricane Ian cut a deep swath on Sept. 26. “I want to be on the other end of it,” she said. “I want to give someone a piece of something to make them feel a tiny bit normal again.”
Motivated by the kindness of volunteers who helped her after Hurricane Michael, Teri Cobb traveled to Myakka City, Florida to help Hurricane Ian survivors clear downed trees.
volunteer experience
Giving back hope
Beyond clearing trees, the hope volunteers bring is priceless, Cobb shared. “Hope is all there is,” she said. “There’s no greater gift. It’s a servant’s gift that volunteers choose to share.” Cobb was among 11 volunteers—all Hurricane Michael survivors and all members of the Rivertown Community Church in Marianna—who made the six-hour drive to Myakka City to help those impacted by Hurricane Ian. Staying for two days, they brought tools, equipment, and a very deep sense of empathy. “We just had our fourth anniversary,” Cobb said, “and we still see blue tarps.” But they also see signs of hope, she added. “There are so many tiny, stub trees.” By volunteering with MDS, she’s been doing some hard, heavy work—but most of all she wants to assure Hurricane Ian survivors that they can find hope. “MDS will help,” said Cobb. “It doesn’t matter if you believe or don’t believe, or what color you are.” She watches as the homeowners walk around their yard, greeting the volunteers. “For a lot of people, without the hope, they just give up,” she said. “But I can see that little spark here now.” — Susan Kim
Teri Cobb remembers the despair Hurricane Michael brought four years ago. “I remember that day sitting on my porch,” she said. “I remember that hopeless feeling.” Days after the storm struck, she sat in front of her home in Marianna, Florida, looking at 28 downed trees in her yard, a battered home, and barns and sheds simply gone. She wondered if there was a way forward. “Out of nowhere, y’all pulled up,” she said, meaning volunteers from MDS. “I thought they were just turning around.” The man who got out did not ask if there was anything he could help with. “Instead, he asked, ‘What’s the most important thing we can do to help you on this journey?’” Cobb recalled. Her voice breaking as she shared these still-fresh memories, Cobb said she will never forget what she describes as “the kindness and the heartfelt, real compassion” MDS volunteers showed as they helped her start to clear the trees from her yard that day. “There was no gain for them,” she said, “but they came and that’s what jumpstarted the belief in me that God was
7
behind the hammer
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online