Forklifts lift Spirits for American Red Cross Volunteers | Update from the Field: East Georgia Red Cross on the front lines

Forklifts lift Spirits for American Red Cross Volunteers

September 8, 2011

On a day of historic rain fall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, American Red Cross volunteers, Civil Air Patrol volunteers, and Americorps volunteers, all rejoiced when Gary Farrigan, Territory Sales manager of Tri-Lift, Inc., arrived to the Northeast New York American Red Cross warehouse with 3 forklifts. This donation from Tri-Lift not only makes lifting of heavy bulk items for the disaster relief operation easier and more efficient, but they also lifted the spirits of our volunteers who have been managing all deliveries, supplies and shipments by hand.

Ken Warkentin has been a Red Cross volunteer since Hurricane Katrina and he is serving this operation as the warehouse manager. When the donation of the forklifts became a reality, Warkentin stated, “the generous donation from Tri-Lift takes chaos out of chaos when managing Bulk Distribution for a major Disaster Relief Operation.”  The arrival, on the day after 8 new inches of rain to the greater Albany area created massive flooding throughout the region, “boosts morale for our volunteers.” Warkentin continued by stating, “the donation of the warehouse, and now the donation of 3 forklifts, will allow our volunteers to see the fruits of their labor, which in turn raises their spirits and motivates them to extend their service which now exceeds 10 days of relentless work.”

Gary Farrigan could not have been more pleased and honored to make the forklifts a reality. Farrigan shared, “We (Tri-Lift, Inc.) have customers in all of the devastated areas and we wanted to donate something that would really help.”  When Farrigan presented the keys to the volunteers in the warehouse, cheers and applause erupted.  On a dreary day of floods, Tri-Lift, Inc. became a hero to the American Red Cross. As one Americorps volunteer shared, “I had no idea that 3 forklifts could lift more than bulk items; we are lifted in spirit and we are thankful.”

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Update from the Field: East Georgia Red Cross on the front lines of Hurricane Irene Disaster Relief


Jeff Taylor, Executive Director of East Georgia Chapter of the American Red Cross is currently on the front lines of the Hurricane Irene aftermath in upstate New York. For daily updates from the field, follow Jeff on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/redcrossega and on Twitter @RedCrossEastGA or @taylorjeff7.

Thank you to our volunteers and donors--you are the lifeline of our organization.