Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/34058
SPECIAL REPORT: Calm After the Storm Trucking industry provides relief to tornado victims STORY AND PHOTOS BY CAROLINE TAYLOR rivers, trucking companies, truckstops and other industry- related companies have collabo- rated with local business and relief organizations in many tornado-rav- aged areas to donate tractor-trailers, money and labor to help storm victims in Alabama, Arkansas, Mas- sachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma. Nationally, the trucking industry has become a crucial asset to relief efforts. Fleets are stepping up to do their part, hauling supplies from one place to another. D Landstar driver Susan Tait, traveling with her dog Dopper, was contracted by FEMA to haul water back and forth from Pensacola, Fla., to a relief site in Tuscaloosa. She’s been working with the National Guard to distribute the supplies. Con-way donated $200,000 to relief efforts in Joplin, Mo., after 16 TRUCKERS NEWS JULY 2011 the town was hit on May 22, kill- ing over 141 people and destroying over 2,000 businesses. Love’s Travel Stores donated a total $150,000 to Heart of Missouri United Way and United Way of Central Oklahoma. Alabama, primarily Tuscaloo- sa, continues to rebuild after 55 continued on page 79 Owner-operator Derrick Clark hauls 12,480 MRE’s per truckload to Tuscaloosa. Victims show glimpses of hope in the midst of chaos in Tuscaloosa, one of the areas destroyed by the April 27 twisters in Alabama.