As search-and-rescue efforts continue in areas decimated by Hurricane Ian, nonprofit trucking and logistics companies are stepping up to help those hardest hit by the Category 4 storm.

Semi-retired truck driver David Otte of Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, said he felt called to help Ian survivors after receiving a message on Mudflap, a discount fuel app for owner-operators.

“This message popped up on the screen one day about helping with Hurricane Ian and I thought, well, the Lord spoke to me so it was time to give him a hand,” Otte told FreightWaves.

Mudflap said it was donating a portion of its proceeds to a nonprofit disaster relief group, Trucks with Room to Spare, through Friday.

After speaking with the nonprofit group’s president, Shelli Conaway-Waugh, a 30-year-trucking veteran from Lexington, Kentucky, about ways to help, Otte decided to organize a supply drive in his home state. 

On Wednesday, he dropped a trailer at the Piggly Wiggly in Oostburg, Wisconsin. Once the trailer, donated by De Master Trucking of Cedar Grove, is full, Otte plans to drive it to the Fort Myers, Florida, area, to deliver the collected supplies, including pet food, feminine hygiene products, laundry detergent and toys, among other items.

Called to serve

After graduating from college in the 1970s, Otte became a truck driver for De Master for a few years before leaving to join the family’s school bus and motorcoach business, which he eventually owned. A few years ago, he sold the business to his grandson but grew bored of retirement life and decided to get back into trucking part time.

“I bought a truck and trailer and started hauling grain to area cooperatives for about three years,” Otte said. “Then I called the company I drove for back in the ’70s, De Master, which is still in business, and I asked the company if they had any work.”

Now, he hauls canned goods, cheese and other goods regionally for De Master three days a week.

Otte said he will cover his fuel costs to drive the goods to Florida once the trailer is full.

“I’m not disadvantaged financially and this is a way I can help,” he said.

Delivering hope

Convoy of Hope, a faith-based nonprofit headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, has more than 50 trucks already on the ground or en route to the disaster zone, according to Ethan Forhetz, national spokesperson for the charity.

Forhetz and Convoy of Hope volunteers were in Fort Myers last week. The group has set up drive-through locations at area churches where Ian survivors can drive up and volunteers will load their vehicles with critical supplies, including food, water and ice.

“We expect a total of 75 to 100 [truckloads] before this disaster response is completed,” Forhetz told FreightWaves. 

So far, Convoy of Hope has distributed nearly 340,000 pounds of supplies to Ian survivors. 

Forhetz said Convoy utilizes volunteer drivers all year so when there is a disaster like Hurricane Ian, his group “already has the relationships to work from.”

“Our volunteers are incredible at giving their time to deliver hope to people who need it,” he said via email. “We couldn’t do what we do without our amazing volunteer truck drivers.”

Trucking gives back

Conaway-Waugh said donations are slowly rolling in to help Hurricane Ian survivors, but more help is needed to ensure supplies are delivered to areas hardest hit by the storm.