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Following Florence, Public Transit Delivers Relief
When Hurricane Florence struck the Carolinas and southern Virginia last month, public transit agencies were quick to respond, conducting evacuations and other much-needed relief efforts. Here is a story of how one APTA member worked tirelessly to serve its community.
BY BURGETTA WHEELER
Public Relations Manager
GoTriangle
Research Triangle Park, NC Lisa Jo Douglas was waiting at the door of the United Way donation center in Lumberton, NC, ready to give out a thank you to the volunteers arriving with buses full of hurricane relief donations from the Triangle region of the state.When the third bus pulled past, Douglas said, her eyes filled with tears. “I saw those three buses coming, and I said to myself, ‘We are not alone in this’. God sent you to bless our community.”
The critically needed goods on those buses, and on two others and a van that traveled to Newport, NC, on Sept. 25, were from Triangle residents who contributed to the recent Hurricane Relief Bus drive spearheaded by GoTriangle. This drive netted more than 60,000 pounds of supplies for North Carolina neighbors devastated by Hurricane Florence.
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| Representatives from GoTriangle and United Way of the Greater Triangle. Jeff Mann, GoTriangle general manager, is third from right. | In the storm’s aftermath, floodwaters covered much of Newport in Carteret County. Travis Clark, the volunteer emergency operations manager at Sanctuary Church of Newport, said it has been heartbreaking to see members of the community start trying to pick up the pieces after losing their homes.
Inside a gathering hall, volunteers set up supplies and allowed families to take the items they needed most. “It is really incredible,” said Clark, who estimated that more than 300 Carteret and Craven County families have been helped there so far. “These buses are packed with supplies. We’ve also received supplies from Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, and to see the nation coming together for this tragedy, it’s just really heartwarming.”
That’s a sentiment echoed by Jonathan Locklear, Lumberton’s landscaping supervisor who, along with several other city employees, helped unload the buses with cases of water, boxes of diapers and bags of cans.
“It’s been a trying time for everybody, trying to get back up,” said Locklear, who stressed how much of Robeson County had yet to fully recover from the blow of Hurricane Matthew in 2016, let alone Florence. “You can’t really understand the devastation from water until you see it. But the community has been pulling together and helping.”
Collaboration and Compassion
Unity is the silver lining to these dark clouds of destruction, said Joanne Branch, director of the United Way of Robeson County. “To see how much people care; to go out on a limb and roll up their sleeves and do what they can,” she said.
Marnita Little stopped by the delivery site in Newport for her supplies. She spent nearly a week without power in her flooded neighborhood and lost everything in her refrigerator.
Knowing they would be helping people like Little is why many of the GoTriangle and GoDurham staff members volunteered to deliver and unload what the Triangle community so graciously gave.
Susan Williams said sitting on her couch watching the flooding unfold on TV made her ask herself what she could do.
“When they asked for volunteers, my hand was the first that went up,” said Williams, a GoDurham bus operator who shuttled supplies to Lumberton. “I just like helping people. It’s an honor to come here and help. I feel like a part of the recovery.”
Vinson Hines Jr., GoTriangle’s assistant director of transit operations, is from Goldsboro, also in eastern North Carolina and another town affected by Hurricane Florence.
“It means a lot to me to be able to participate in taking these desperately needed supplies to the folks down east who have been devastated,” Hines said. “I know they would be there for me if we had gotten the worst of it.”
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| GoTriangle partnered with the United Ways of North Carolina and the Greater Triangle as part of the “Here to Help: Hurricane Relief” effort. |
The Hurricane Relief Bus drive has netted more than 60,000 pounds of supplies for North Carolina residents affected by Hurricane Florence. |
More about the Hurricane Relief Bus Drive
The Hurricane Relief Bus drive was part of a larger “Here to Help: Hurricane Relief” effort orchestrated by WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC, that also included GoTriangle, the United Ways of North Carolina and the Greater Triangle, the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, Alliance Health and North Carolina State University (NC State).
At the Sept. 29 football game between NC State and the University of Virginia, fans and students filled another bus with supplies that GoTriangle was due to distribute just prior to this issue going to press.
The United Way of the Greater Triangle and the food bank are continuing to accept monetary donations for Hurricane Florence relief efforts.
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