I’d only been back in the office half a day when Hurricane Matthew began its march up the East Coast of the United States.

I volunteered to leave the next morning to go and report on the disaster. My first day, I drove to Valdosta, Georgia, where churches had set up shelters for people evacuating coastal areas.

There, I met the almost-4-year-old Sophie and her 20-year-old sister, Haley. They had spread blankets on the floor of a Sunday school classroom as a makeshift place to sleep. The girls played games — Haley trying to make it fun for Sophie — but Sophie said, “I miss my bed.”

Thankfully we learned while I was there that the storm had caused minimal damage to their home. 

Photo ©2016 World Vision, Laura Reinhardt