Albany volunteers urging increased support for South Carolina flood victims

ALBANY — As residents of South Carolina continue to deal with aftermath of devastating floods that hit the state in the wake of Hurricane Joaquin last month, several Albanians who remember what their own city went through in 1994 and 1998 are urging folks to do their part by donating some much needed items to their neighboring state.

Late last week, the city of Albany partnered with locally owned Interstate National Lease and Sherwood Baptist Church to collect and deliver a trailer full of useful items to be taken to South Carolina aid sites in the coming weeks.

The program gained traction when Interstate National Lease, a division of the Fred Taylor Co., agreed to donate a truck, a trailer and services of a driver to take donated goods from Albany to an area near Sumter, S.C.

Once the city agreed to take part in the initiative, collections began in earnest on Thursday behind the Albany Civic Center and have now shifted to the former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Pine Avenue that is owned by Sherwood Baptist Church.

According to Albany Assistant Fire Chief Eugene Anderson, who is coordinating the collection efforts on behalf of the city, after the first weekend of the effort, there is still a long way to go in order to meet the goal of filling the 53-foot trailer.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Anderson said. “The truck is taken care of, the fuel is taken care of, the drivers are taken care of — all of that is donated. It’s free and it needs to be full. And there’s a real need on the end. We definitely need to do our part in filling that need.”

Albany City Commissioner B.J. Fletcher, who has been behind the initiative from the start, strongly agreed with Robinson, saying that it was “imperative” that Albany citizens do for the residents of South Carolina what was done for them after the historic flooding Albany experienced in 1994 and 1998.

“They need exactly what we needed,” said Fletcher. “I remember all the trucks that were here. It’s important that we give back. That is what life is about. I believe that’s what God wants us to do.”

Albany City Manager Sharon Subadan, who was instrumental in pledging the city’s support for the initiative, echoed the sentiments of Anderson and Fletcher saying that was important for the Albany community, which understands the struggle of recovery from a natural disaster to do their part.

“I wasn’t here (in 1994 or 1998) but I’ve experienced natural disasters,” said Subadan. “I think our community is very familiar with flooding and I think that heightens our sensitivity to the plight (of those in South Carolina). It will probably takes years, just like it did here, for them to recover. I’m encouraging our community to come out and make donations big and small. I’m hoping we can fill up that trailer.”

Subadan and Robinson said that the majority of the items that the South Carolina Emergency Management Agency indicated as priority include non-perishable items, many of which will be used during clean-up efforts.

Items listed as most important are cleaning items such as bleach, gloves and safety goggles, and baby items such as diapers, wipes and formula. Additionally, as is the case with most natural disasters citizens are being asked to donate bottled water.

Organizers are hoping to have the truck filled by this Thursday, but making that happen, Robinson said, will take a coordinated effort by larger groups.

“There’s things in my mind that I think we can do, target areas so to speak,” said Robinson. I think in my mind the business community can get together and perhaps look at cases of items versus individual items. The church community, they could get together $1 a piece and get together a pallet of something, cases of something. Again a group effort would move things along faster.”

Anderson added that in addition to challenging businesses and the faith community to come together as a team, he is also challenging those in civil and government positions as well.

“I’m going to push my fellow civil servants to get together in their offices and again send one person to the store,” said Anderson. “Send one person to the store after you’ve done a $1 apiece kind of thing. As a matter of fact, I got up this morning and said, ‘I’m going to start my dollar campaign.’ If everybody in the fire department gave $1 that’s a pallet. If every city employee gave $1, that’s 10 pallets and that would move things along in a good way.”

Although they’re shooting to have the trailer filled by Thursday, Robinson said Sherwood officials have agreed to let the city use the bottling plant on Pine as long as it is needed.

Although that option is open, Fletcher said she sees no reason that the truck couldn’t be filled by the deadline if the community truly gets behind the initiative.

“I’d like for that thing to be on the road Friday morning,” Fletcher said. “I don’t see any reason in the world why we can’t fill up this truck. In fact, I see no reason why Mark Taylor (of Interstate National Lease parent company Fred Taylor Co.) wouldn’t get a second truck for us to fill up and send out. It’s like voting. Everybody thinks somebody else is doing it. But really we all need to do it. We need to get as excited about this as we did Back the Blue. Everybody needs to get involved.”

Although involvement from the community hasn’t been strong in the early going, some in the area have already volunteered their time and resources. Anderson said he’s had volunteers from the fire department, The Anchorage, The Albany Rescue Mission, the health department, and some area churches get involved to help with the collections, including Sherwood Baptist, which has allowed the use of its property as the collection site.

“This community was rocked not that many years ago with a flood of its own and we went out and worked with that and saw the devastation from it,” said George Royal, a Sherwood member who is involved in the campaign. “We know what those people are going through and this community should step up and help in every way that we can. That’s what the church is doing. We’ve got a space that can be used and we’ve given it to the city so it could be used for this.”

Collections at the Coca-Cola bottling facility will be 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily until the truck is filled. Donated items must be new and unopened. Anyone with questions or who wants to get involved can contact Anderson at (229) 733-7314.