How the Trucking Industry Helped Feed a Million People in Florida After Hurricane Ian
After Hurricane Ian devastated Florida, volunteers like truck driver Joe Myerly transported food and supplies to disaster areas through organizations such as Operation BBQ Relief. Networks like the American Logistics Aid Network provided free transportation support, enabling the nonprofit to supply 60,000 to 80,000 meals daily, with plans to eventually reach 100,000 per day, and an overall goal of distributing one million meals.
On September 28, the day after Hurricane Ian made a deadly landfall in Florida, 55-year-old truck driver Joe Myerly drove a flatbed truck carrying five large meat smokers and a dry van loaded with kitchen supplies to the center of Port Charlotte in Charlotte County.
Myerly said emergency responders who were rescuing stranded residents by boat had blocked off a highway exit. He passed these responders as he traveled from a staging area near the Georgia line through dangerous roads in the aftermath of the Category 4 hurricane, eventually delivering the much-needed supplies.
"The first four or five days were completely about maneuvering around obstacles," said Myerly, who lives in Hagerstown, Maryland. "It's getting better now, but there's still a lot to clean up... Power poles are down, trees are across the roads."
Myerly is one of the volunteer team members of the disaster relief nonprofit Operation BBQ Relief, helping the organization set up and supply a free feeding site aimed at providing at least 1 million hot lunches and dinners to Floridians in need after the storm.
Since its founding in 2011, the nonprofit has relied on truck drivers like Myerly to support its post-disaster food distribution efforts. And after Hurricane Ian, the extra boost from the trucking industry is supporting the organization's largest response to date.
American Logistics Aid Network, a transportation industry nonprofit founded after Hurricane Katrina, has contributed transportation services, refrigerated trailers for food storage, and other free assistance. Operation BBQ Relief officials say this help has been crucial in allowing the feeding site to scale up to 60,000 to 80,000 meals per day.
"They have been an absolute godsend to us," said Chris Huggins, director of logistics and transportation for Operation BBQ Relief.
"A lot of food is needed"
Floodingforced the closure of Interstate 75 on September 30, temporarily trapping Myerly in Florida while the feeding site was being set up. As soon as the highway reopened, he was back on the road, hauling pallets of canned vegetables, food containers, and other supplies from Texas, South Carolina, and Georgia.
"It takes a lot of food," Myerly said.
According to Huggins, in just the past week, the nonprofit sourced green beans from Wisconsin, mixed vegetables from Virginia, bread from Nebraska and Kentucky, and beef brisket from Arizona.
Huggins, who lives in Dallas, works as a freight broker during the day. But as director of logistics and transportation for Operation BBQ Relief, he shifts his focus from hauling building materials to hauling food and agricultural products.
"We have product coming from all over the country, some purchased from suppliers and some donated by suppliers," he said. "During these disasters, our transportation costs can sometimes exceed $150,000."
That's where American Logistics Aid Network and its executive director, Kathy Fulton, step in to help. Huggins and Fulton work together to coordinate what needs to be shipped, while Fulton works with the network's partners to deliver goods for Operation BBQ Relief for free.
Building bridges and airlifting
Fulton said requests from Operation BBQ Relief and other nonprofits to American Logistics Aid Network vary, but by far the largest category is transportation needs, ranging from less-than-truckload to full truckload shipments.
"We're right in between groups, helping push information and resources to where they need to go, and trying to build bridges so that without us, the network can function on its own," Fulton said.
In addition to working with the trucking industry, Operation BBQ Relief has partnered with Texas nonprofitOperation AirDropto airlift food to Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, and other areas cut off by flooding.
"We're delivering meals to many different counties," said Joey Rusek, operations supervisor for Operation BBQ Relief. "We worked with them to airlift about 20,000 meals in total over three days."
"Couldn't have come at a better time"
Charlotte County spokesperson Brian Gleason said that with more than half of the county's residents without power, long lines of vehicles have formed at the Operation BBQ Relief free feeding site.
"These people haven't had a hot meal since last week unless they cooked on their own grill, if they still have one," Gleason said. "The food in their refrigerators went bad a long time ago... This is a really great program, and it couldn't have come at a better time because people are really struggling."
On Friday morning, at the back of the trailer, Myerly moved the pallet jack under the latest shipment—a load of Del Monte canned green beans—and slowly guided it toward the forklift of waiting volunteer Forrest Parks.
By that evening, he was back on the road, heading to Alabama to meet another driver and pick up a load of corn.