Hurricane Charley didn’t pack much punch in South Carolina, so residents from across the state headed out Monday to lend a hand where it did.

About 75 volunteers from the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s disaster relief division left, or will leave, for Florida this week to provide meals and to remove fallen trees. In addition, the Red Cross sent a pair of volunteers Monday to serve meals from a specially equipped emergency response vehicle.

No members of the S.C. National Guard have been sent to Florida, a spokesman said, adding he doesn’t anticipate a request for aid. Usually, states closer to a disaster area send Guard members, meaning Florida would turn to Georgia or Alabama for assistance if needed.

“The assessment out of Florida is slow,” said Cliff Satterwhite, director of disaster relief for the S.C. Baptist Convention. “You see it on the news and you say, ‘Oh my goodness, I need to get there right now and help,’ but we have an agreement that we will go when invited.”

About 500 volunteers from the Baptist Convention were in Florida in 1992 for recovery efforts from Hurricane Andrew, and nearly 400 went to Virginia last fall in the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel.

The organization has about 1,200 trained volunteers capable of being dispatched to hard-hit areas if needed, Satterwhite said.

“Knowing what we can do and then asking us to come do it, it’s a process, it takes some time. “That’s where we have to practice our patience.”

On Monday, retired Columbia firefighter and Red Cross volunteer Paul Ross drove all day to Florida to man the emergency response vehicle. He said he expects to feed between 500 and 1,000 people a day.

“It’s just like a mailman — you see someone, you stop and ask if they need food,” he said.

Ross is scheduled to be in Florida through September.

“About three weeks is all a person can stand because it’s all stress and strain.”

Reach Roko at (803) 771-8409 or eroko@thestate.com.