Bloomington woman helping Hurricane Matthew victims

FLORENCE, SC (WISH) — Hoosiers are helping clean up from Hurricane Matthew in South Carolina.

Tracy Young’s job is assessing damage in flood-ravaged neighborhoods more than 600 miles from her Bloomington, Indiana home. She helps Red Cross workers decided where, when and how to use their resources.

“Every kind of emotion you could have, you experience it with something like this,” Young said.

She spoke with 24-Hour News 8 via Facetime from Florence on Monday.

Young said the hardest part of her job is meeting children forced from their homes.

“They don’t understand why they can’t get to their house,” Young said. “It’s really heartbreaking. All you can do is just be there for them. Give them a hug and a shoulder to cry on.”

Red Cross workers called Young after the hurricane ripped through the coast.

Seven hours later, she boarded a plane to South Carolina.

She said she’ll never forget this past week, and she’s not done working.

“People think that it’s over. It’s not over for these people here,” Young said. “These people are going to be dealing with this for the days, weeks and even months to come.”

Young used her one day off to watch her Hoosiers take on Nebraska.

She got back to work Sunday. She said she’ll stay in South Carolina for one more week.

“Keep those people in your thoughts and prayers because they’re really going through a rough time right now,” she said.

Young’s responded in the past to hurricanes Keane, Francis and Sandy.

If you’d like to volunteer or donate to Red Cross, you can visit the organization’s central Indiana webpage.

Red Cross’s central Indiana Volunteer Intake Center is open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments can be scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays.