Sheep Dog Impact Assistance preparing to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene

ROGERS, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Sheep Dog Impact Assistance is preparing to help people in Florida after Category 4 Hurricane Helene hit Thursday night.

The local organization spent Friday packing tools into trailers that will accompany them on their mission.

“We’re looking to take the essentials. Our first aid kit is very important. We always bring extra fuel tanks in a situation like this, we don’t know if gas stations are going to be open. And fuel is very important to us for not only our trucks, but our gear,” John Parker, marketing manager with Sheep Dog Impact Assistance, said.

There’s also protective equipment, cots, sleeping bags, and small necessities like gloves and bug spray.

Hurricane Helene is one of the largest storms in the Gulf of Mexico in the last century, damaging homes and causing severe flooding and debris.

“It’s going to be a lot of maybe mucking out houses or buildings that have been damaged by water. It’s going to be a lot of debris removal. We’ve got our chainsaws ready to go, but it’s also going to be helping any way we can,” Parker said. “So we’ll go down there, we’ll link up with first responders and FEMA and other organizations and ask them how we can be most effective.”

The organization plans to send two teams. One of them is the “advance team,” which will leave on Sunday.

“They’ll go down with our first trailer. They’ll go down, they’ll spend all day driving and talking to our people that are already on the ground down there,” Parker said. “And they’ll be working on housing. They’ll be working on, you know, where we’re going to set up our first command post and how we’re going to attack the situation that comes about.”

On Monday, the other team with volunteers and Parker, will leave at 8 am from the Center for Nonprofits.

“During our drive, our advance team will have set up different job locations for us to hit the ground running on Tuesday and really start working,” Parker said.

Parker says the group is looking for more volunteers to join them on this mission.

“It being a nonprofit, you know, we have a small staff, so we look to our volunteers and our members across the country to come in times like this and help us out,” Parker said.

He says volunteers are extremely important to them and they are appreciated.

“There’s always a place for you. And no matter what your ability is, we’ll try to find that place for you,” Parker said.

Parker says if you cannot make it on time on Monday, you can meet up with them at their meet-up spot.

“Or a rally point, as we call it, where you could drive and meet up with our team and then caravan with us if you’re not able to make it,” Parker said.

For information about how to sign up and what you should bring, click here .

Parker is expecting to be in Florida for five to seven days.

“By the time we get there and start working, there’s so many other organizations that have come to help as well that the work it’s done so quickly, which is a good thing that we don’t have to stay there that long,” Parker said. “Plus, we’re asking our volunteers to take off work, to take those vacation days to be away from their families. So we don’t want to do it too much. But at the same time, we want to be effective when we’re on the ground.”

He says while he is helping people in need, in a way, they are helping him too.

“We say at Sheep Dog that helping is healing. And for me, it certainly is. I find healing in doing whatever I can to make anyone else’s life better or easier,” Parker said.

If you would like to donate to Sheep Dog, they are in need of supplies, gift cards, gas cards, and cash.

“So that we can go down and do whatever it is that these people are asking,” Parker said.

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