Robert Long had a memorable day Thursday.
He dropped off his 5-year-old son, Austin, for his first day of kindergarten in the morning. And as soon as he got to work, Long, a lieutenant with the Winston-Salem Salvation Army, learned he'd be taking off for Morehead City with one of the army's mobile canteens to provide relief for hurricane evacuees.
"My wife already told him it'd be like when I go to camp every year, just longer," Long said Thursday afternoon as he made final preparations to the mobile food-service van he'll drive down this morning.
The Winston-Salem chapter is one of 12 North Carolina outfits fanning out along the North Carolina coast today. Long and two others will staff the van and shuttle it between two schools in Morehead City. The chapter from Greensboro is scheduled to go to Elizabeth City.
"With the threat of Hurricane Irene bearing down on the Carolina coast, the Salvation Army is taking every precaution necessary to ready equipment and supplies to provide emergency relief services as needed to anyone who may be impacted by the storm," said Maj. Kent Davis, area commander for the Salvation Army in Winston-Salem.
The Salvation Army has 30 canteens in the state.
"We're scheduled to be there for up to 14 days. If we need to be there longer, some of the other canteens will come down to rotate in," Long said.
The Salvation Army mobile food units are stocked with enough food to provide up to 1,500 meals a day. The food isn't fancy — peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, beef stew, rice, mixed fruit cups, crackers and water — but will go a long way to helping evacuees and possibly those displaced by Irene.
The Winston-Salem chapter, Long said, was notified earlier this week to be ready to go, so hearing the news was neither a shock nor something to be nervous about.
"It's what we're called to do," Long said. "I haven't even heard about how (Austin's) first day at school was. I'm more nervous about that than anything."
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