WAUCHULA, Fla. — Sitting in the shade of a huge live oak tree, Yovani Carrillo prepared his chainsaw for another massive oak, which Hurricane Ian precariously tossed across the front yard of a Wauchula home.
“Just getting it ready to cut that big tree,” said Carillo, from southwestern Tennessee, as he sharpened the oversized blade. “In Tennessee, we don’t get to use this big bore much.”
Wednesday morning, Carrillo could briefly claim an unfortunate distinction as he prepared for the job: he was the last remaining volunteer in Hardee County, where Hurricane Ian damaged homes, toppled trees, and flooded homes and businesses.
Though SendMeMissions, the nonprofit coordinating the county’s volunteers effort, was well stocked with volunteers in the immediate weeks after the storm, now that a month has passed, volunteer labor has become harder to find.
“Couple hundred,” Carrillo said. “We need a couple hundred volunteers.”
As Carrillo used the lengthy chainsaw to divide the oak into more manageable pieces, he was fortunate. He did have some help.
The night before, he was able to recruit about 15 volunteers who were helping further south in DeSoto County.
The volunteers, who are members of Brentwood Baptist Church and other Nashville-area Baptist churches, piled the pieces along the rural Wauchula road as Jamie Samuels, the co-founder of SendMeMissions, prepared a stack of future work orders for the volunteers.
“This is a tree group, so this crew’s going to work on trees, but I still have, you know, families in shelters. I still have tarping jobs and muck-outs,” she said. “This is one of the pieces to the puzzle.”
But SendMeMissions is still searching for other puzzle pieces.
At the nonprofit’s cozy base camp near Downtown Wauchula, a whiteboard maps out the coming weeks. A couple of volunteer groups are slated to visit, but many days are blank.
“We just really need a ton of volunteers to be able to say, ‘Yes. We’ll come. We’ll serve. And we’ll help the community to be able to help with tarps and tree work and muck outs,” said Samuels. “If you’re breathing, we want you to come.”
While Samuels said experience is nice, it isn’t required. She has volunteer work fit for all ages, skill levels, and abilities.
The nonprofit is faith-based, but Samuels said all are welcome. Additionally, volunteers can stay for as little or as long as they would like.
“That could be that you have two hours after work that you could come — let’s say you live in Tampa, and you want to come over — or you want to come for a day trip,” Samuels said. “We can supply all the needs that a volunteer would need. So, if you need the supplies to be able to tarp, we have the tarps. We have the nails. We have everything that someone needs to do the work.”
Wednesday, as the crew made quick work of the fallen oak, Carrillo’s heart swelled with pride.
Even though the volunteer work pays no money, Carrillo’s reward was more profound.
“As believers in Christ, we’re supposed to go out and be the light of this world,” he said. “Come and be the light of the world.”
Those interested in volunteering are encouraged to text SendMeMissions at 863-800-9654.
