The Log Book: Nonprofit groups mobilize to help Hurricane Ida survivors

The Log Book is a weekly rundown of human-interest stories related to the transportation industry. This week: The Log Book focuses on two nonprofit groups working together to collect and transport critical supplies to Hurricane Ida survivors. 

A nonprofit trucking organization and a humanitarian aid group will be collecting relief supplies in the nation’s capital on Sunday to help those hardest hit by Hurricane Ida in southwest Louisiana. 

Trucks With Room to Spare and CN Supply are hosting the #Aid4Ida supply drive from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on Sunday at Metrobar, an 11,000-square-foot outdoor venue in Washington, DC. 

The two nonprofit groups have teamed up previously to provide transportation and critical supplies during natural disasters.

Trucks With Room to Spare works with fellow drivers to provide transportation, warehousing and distribution of donated supplies to communities heavily damaged by natural disasters like Hurricane Ida.

CN Supply, a national nonprofit, was founded after Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast in 2017. Since that time, CN Supply has delivered over 3,000 tons of lifesaving supplies to areas impacted by natural disasters. Many of those loads were made possible by Trucks With Room to Spare.  

In addition to non-perishable food items and bottled water, recovery items such as tarps, hammers, cleaning supplies and trash bags are needed, according to Kristen Wise, president of CN Supply.

Diapers, wipes, baby formula, food for toddlers, feminine hygiene products and first-aid kits are also badly needed, Wise said.

If you can’t attend the event but want to contribute, tax-deductible monetary donations can be made via CN Supply’s website and will be used to sponsor fuel for drivers and purchase supply items.  

“The situation in southwest Louisiana is dire with some communities facing no electricity for 30 days while heat indexes are topping 100 degrees,” Wise said in a statement. “The donations are more than doing something kind: it’s a simple donation with a lifesaving impact.”

Donations made to Trucks With Room to Spare’s website will support fuel and other costs incurred by truck drivers who volunteer their time and their rigs to pick up and deliver critical relief supplies.

Shelli Conaway-Waugh of Lexington, Kentucky, a 29-year trucking veteran, told FreightWaves recently that her group always needs volunteer drivers to pick up and haul supplies during natural disasters like Ida.

Have a transportation-related human-interest story to share? If so, please contact gsharkey@freightwaves.com.

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