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Disaster relief volunteers descend on Jacksonville area

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Volunteers from churches around the Southeast descended on Northeast Florida Saturday to help victims of Hurricane Irma.

They wore bright yellow shirts and called themselves the Mormon Helping Hands. One resident on Heckscher Drive describes them as angels from heaven.

About 800 of the volunteers fanned out across the Jacksonville area to help with tree-cutting, debris clean up, muck out work and removal of materials damaged by the flooding produced by Irma.

They're organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will be working through the weekend.

Marie Haskins called a team to her Heckscher Drive home Saturday. She says they ended up helping her and seven of her neighbors.

"Their work also encouraged other neighbors to help," she said. "It became a real neighborhood project."

Anyone needing assistance with storm cleanup can call the Helping Hands hotline at 800-451-1954 to set up a work order.