BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) – As much of Florida and parts of Georgia prepare to be hit by Hurricane Idalia, organizations around Alabama are preparing to help in the aftermath of the storm. Local, state and regional organizations are standing by, waiting to see what happens with Hurricane Idalia and what areas are impacted the most.

“We try to let the rescue crews, cleanup crews get in and do their thing and then it kind of, when it’s safe for us we’ll be able to deploy,” says Jessica Trahan, assistant director for Hatching Hope.

Hatching Hope is a nonprofit organization based out of Pelham with volunteers spread throughout the southeast. It sends semi trucks full of items like cleaning supplies and hygiene products to disaster-stricken areas.

“Being in disaster relief, we are prepared for this. We work with other charity groups to send these 18-wheeler truckloads so they’re already on standby, we just have to give them a location,” says Trahan.

Refuel Ministries is also waiting to head out next week to provide three hot meals a day for volunteers helping with hurricane cleanup.

“You want legitimate volunteers to come in and organizations like us and with God’s Pit Crew, we have the credentials to go in and do what’s needed,” says Darrin Jarvis, president of Refuel Ministries. “We have the reputation of doing the right thing and helping people, we’re not there for anything for us to benefit off of so people trust us and let us come in to help.”

Alabama Power is also gearing up to assist after the hurricane hits, stationing about 325 people in Macon, GA to help their crews get power back on as soon as possible.

“We have major storms here in the state of Alabama where we have outages that are beyond our normal crews’ ability to restore in a reasonable amount of time and so we have mutual assistance come in from other states to help us restore power on those occasions and so we want to reciprocate that,” says Anthony Cook, spokesperson Alabama Power.

While these organizations are in limbo waiting for Hurricane Idalia to hit, they’re still collecting monetary donations so they can pick up needed supplies before leaving.

To donate and keep up with Refuel Ministries, check out their Facebook page HERE.

To donate and track Hatching Hope, visit their website HERE.