Couple hands out Red Cross meals in Morehouse

MOREHOUSE, Mo. -- Glen Harmon's goal is to make as much noise as possible as he drives down the streets of Morehouse. "Hot meals!" he calls out, then lays on the horn in the Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle he's driving.

The noise causes people to come out of their homes, quickly forming a line at the truck's side window.

At first glance, sometimes people think the boxy white truck is an ambulance, said Harmon's wife of 49 years, Martha. Children sometimes think it's an ice cream truck. But this is a Red Cross mobile feeding unit. The Harmons delivered 700 meals a day in Morehouse last week on board the truck. The Puxico, Mo., couple has responded to natural disasters with the Red Cross across the country since Hurricane Katrina first inspired them to volunteer.

With this flood, disaster hits close to home.

In Morehouse, 280 homes, about two-thirds of the residences, sustained water damage after heavy rains in late April flooded the Little River Drainage District.

The Harmons have been helping with the Southeast Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross in flood-ravaged communities since the rains began causing problems in mid-April, first at the Black River Coliseum shelter, where a levee breach along the Black River forced abut 1,000 people to evacuate Poplar Bluff, Mo., and a few days later at another shelter set up at Lighthouse Christian Center in Dexter, Mo.

They will conduct mobile feeding missions with the Red Cross through today in Morehouse.

After feeding as many as 10,000 people in a day with the Red Cross after tornadoes and hurricanes they've learned an efficient routine.

While Glen Harmon drives, Martha Harmon fills clamshell Styrofoam containers with spaghetti and meatballs, green beans and pears.

When the truck stops, she's ready to hand meals out the window.

There's no limit. What people need, they get whether it's two containers of food or 12.

"It's not good to throw anything away. That just kills me," Glen Harmon said.

Their goal is not to take any food back to the kitchen. So far, in Morehouse they've run out of food on each trip.

"If they come up and say 'What have you got to eat?' they probably don't really need it," Glen Harmon said. "If they're hungry, they don't ask."

The residents of Morehouse don't ask. Their thankfulness shows in their eyes and in their smiles as they walk away with stacks of Styrofoam boxes and bags full of bottled water. Friday the Harmons also passed out FEMA fliers and cans of bug spray.

Several people followed the truck in their cars, flagging the Harmons down to get meals to take back to their families.

The ingredients for the meals are bought by the Red Cross and prepared by Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

Eight cooks set up tents in parking lot of Morehouse's First Baptist Church to house an outdoor kitchen last Tuesday night. Since then they have cooked from about 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. At night, they stay inside the church building on sleeping on air mattresses and in sleeping bags. They shower in a trailer also provided by Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. It's used also by the 20 people still staying in a shelter inside the church's activities center.

"The Lord has loved us, and we want to show his love to other people by helping them," said Ron Hahs of Daisy, who coordinates the kitchen team.

Love is what motivates Glen and Martha Harmon as well.

"The part that satisfies me the most is seeing the little babies and the grandmas and grandpas and getting them something to eat," Glen Harmon said.

When they're not helping disaster victims with the Red Cross, they teach classes to new Red Cross volunteers. In addition to mobile feeding missions, they've also done client casework and initial disaster assessments with the Red Cross.

"I can't think of a job with the Red Cross I haven't done," Glen Harmon said.

"We're just what's between the money that's donated and the clients," Martha Harmon said. "When there's a question, we lean all decisions toward what will help the client most."

They volunteer four days a week at the Hands of Hope Youth Center in Puxico, an after-school program where students receive a free meal and help with homework.

To donate to 2011 flood relief efforts, visit www.semoredcross.org/.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

Morehouse, MO