Sullivan Salvation Army works to deliver meals to those in need

SULLIVAN, Ind. (WISH) — The Salvation Army is taking it off-road to get supplies to the hardest hit areas in Sullivan after an EF3 tornado damaged hundreds of homes.

The group is utilizing Utility Terrain Vehicles to get food, water, and supplies to those in the heart of the disaster, as it has taken days to get most of the debris off the road to allow cars to pass.

Sheliah Gravens, a volunteer UTV driver, says this is the right thing to do. “It’s what a Christian does,” Gravens said.

Salvation Army Sullivan Disaster Response Public Information Officer, Vinal Lee, said, “They are utilized to get into harder-to-reach places that our large mobile kitchen usually can’t get into. We’ve been using these UTVs to get to first responders and survivors to give them meals, hydration, and other items they would need.”

Gravens says this work is difficult, but fulfilling. “People come up and they’re so gracious to you, and you feel like you should be gracious to them for doing what they’re doing, being out in the heat and the dirt and everything,” Gravens said.

Lee says he is happy to bring food to people who are working so hard they don’t have time to stop and get something to eat.

“We do this work because it matters, because people deserve to be treated with dignity and because of the wind with a mission of the Salvation Army,” Lee said. 

The group is serving three meals a day out of the UTV, and has served nearly 1500 meals over a few-day period.