Onaway Hurricane Katrina relief efforts
Donated supplies and goods collected in the Onaway area to help victims of Hurricane Katrina arrived Sunday at Singing River Electric in Gautier, Mississippi.
Truck driver Bob Kerns of Mt. Pleasant, who donated his time to deliver the 53-foot trailer full of goods, left the driveway of Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op last Thursday and arrived in Gautier Sunday morning.
Thirty employees with the most severe damage gathered at the coop around noon and were able to choose first from the items. Employees from PIE & G started the collection effort after hearing of a cooperative in Gulfport, Mississippi, which had 70 employees who lost their homes when the hurricane came ashore in late August.
?That kind of hit all of us thinking, that gosh, they are still required to work and try to restore power, and they don?t even have homes themselves,? said Sharon Krzywiecki of PIE & G. ?So, we then got the idea to try and help a co-op — people like us.? When the drive first started, the goods were going to be sent to Coast Electric in Gulfport, but as the week went on, officials at Coast Electric said they could not receive the goods unless the trailer could be left in storage for at least four weeks.
That was not possible, so Singing River Electric in the next county over, east of Biloxi, was contacted. Lorri Freeman from Singing Electric emailed a response and pictures from when their employees picked up the donated items from the Onaway area.
?We are most grateful for your kind thoughts and actions,? Freeman stated. ?I had a customer representative come up to me in tears so thankful for the appliances, food, and clothing. “Two of our servicemen with 20-plus years took the two chairs s
The drive, while organized by PIE & G, was a community effort involving business, schools and a lot of individuals from Onaway, Millersburg, Rogers City and Cheboygan County.
?That first Saturday was a slow day,? said Norma Ellenberger of PIE & G of the collection effort. ?We were disappointed at first, but the following week, once the churches got the word got out to its members, people started coming to the coop and dropping stuff off, and before you know it, we had pallets filled with items.
?As the week went on and our spirits grew and we loaded that truck up, it was indescribable what a great feeling it was to know that we filled a 53-foot trailer filled with goods that could help other people.?