CHARLOTTE -- As Hurricane Gustav slams into the Gulf Coast, many Americans are on alert, preparing to head south and help in any way they can.

A handful of volunteers with North Carolina Baptist Men Disaster Relief got an early start Monday morning as they left for Alabama. Their mission is to provide hot meals to those impacted by Hurricane Gustav.

"We know it's going to be devastation when we get there. We know what we're going to have to do because we've been through it before," volunteer Lawrence Bolin said.

Like three years ago, after Hurricane Katrina rocked Louisiana, volunteers remained in place for more than two years.

The group left from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Kings Mountain, N.C. around 5:45 a.m. Monday. They will meet up with about 15 other Baptist members in Alabama, where they will wait out the storm and then get their marching orders.

"It takes about 3 1/2 to 4 hours to get it set up," volunteer Juanita Bolin said of the mobile kitchen. One of the two semi-trucks traveling south will fold out into a large industrial kitchen. There cooks can prepare up to 35,000 hot meals a day.

"It's one of those situations you can't hardly put into words. It just makes you feel so good and you see one child's face light up, and his eyes start twinkling and you say this is worth it all," Lawrence Bolin explained.

"This is a blessing," added Juanita Bolin.

The volunteers will wait in Tallidega, Ala. until the storm passes. Then they will move south to wherever they are needed most.