Photo By Sgt. MatthewMatthew Wright | Pallets of water at a warehouse in Jefferson County await shipment to Point of...... read more read more
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After a natural disaster, support follows not only with volunteers and first responders, but also with supplies intended for those affected. These materials travel in a complicated path from the donating people and organizations to the people in need. Warehouses run by Texas Guard Soldiers around the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey gather in supplies donated by businesses, non-governmental organizations and even individual people.
“The amount of donations we receive is never consistent,” said 1st Lt. Heather Seidl, with the Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 36th Infantry Division. “Most nights we receive about two, but during the day we can receive anywhere from five to ten, sometimes even more,” she said.
Seidl runs an emergency relief supply warehouse in Jefferson County. Seidl said that she and her crew of 27 are open twenty-four hours and have received shipments ranging in size from trailer trucks to individual cars.
This warehouse crew does not have a specific way to measure incoming supplies, due to their variations in size, but everything heading out is measured in pallets. Military and civilian transports, such as Light Medium Tactical Vehicles (LMTVs), tractor trailers and dump trucks take upwards of six pallets of water, hygiene items, canned goods or cleaning supplies out to the five Point of Distribution Stations (PODS) the warehouse is responsible for supplying.
These Soldiers from the 36th HHBN started in the warehouse on September 4, taking over for the civilian volunteers and city workers who didn’t have the manpower to receive, organize and prep the supplies for distribution. The first day the team took over receiving and distribution operations, they only shipped out 58 pallets, but their second day saw them send out 204, with at least 200 every day since.
Three Texas Guard Soldiers, Spc. Jesse Trevino, Spc. Joshua Strickland and Spc. Samuel Pennington, are part of the crew moving donated supplies onto pallets and preparing them for distribution to the PODS. All three said they were glad to be there and help.
“We are essentially manning the warehouse, “ said Strickland, “making sure that everything that comes in gets organized, put away correctly and is able to be reshipped.”
None of them could guess at how many pallets they had prepared individually for distribution.
“I have no idea,” said Strickland. He laughed and shook his head after looking to the two Soldiers with him to see if they had a better number than him. They didn’t.
“Hundreds?” he asked them.
“Hundreds,” they agreed.
“It’s all a blur,” Strickland said. “But it’s what they need and we’re happy to give them a hand.”
Texas is receiving help from all over the country, both in supplies and people volunteering their time and efforts towards the recovery. In warehouses like this along the coast, Texans are helping pull each other up to their feet.
| Date Taken: | 09.07.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 09.08.2017 17:19 |
| Story ID: | 247512 |
| Location: | PORT ARTHUR, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Texas Guard manages, distributes supplies in Harvey aftermath, by SGT Scott Wolfe, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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