Volunteers from Longwood church to provide disaster relief in the Panhandle

LONGWOOD, Fla. (FOX 35 WOFL) - There is a long road ahead for people struggling to get on their feet following Hurricane Michael. Now a week later from when Michael hit the Panhandle, thousands are still without power and basic necessities.

On Wednesday morning, the volunteer disaster response team from the Northland Church in Longwood pulled out to driving to the city of Marianna, which is located between Panama City Beach and Tallahassee. 

Even before the sun was up, volunteers were standing hand in hand for an early morning prayer. The disaster response team took trucks of food and supplies to the Panhandle ara. Bradley Nolff of the Northland Church says that "we're going to provide 500 to 600 meals everyday."

The team is planning to stay for two to three weeks, but they say they could need to stay longer and coordinate more disaster response teams depending on the need.

Nolff went on to say that "the area to recover could be up to a year, but we hope that they're able to have some immediate relief and they get power back and stores will be able ot open up and they'll be able to get basic necessities."

For many of these volunteers, this is not the first time they have been to areas destroyed by natural disasters.