Gaylord or what I learned working disaster relief

One of our fabulous logistics volunteers was happily spreading the news about a Gaylord shipment, a truck full arriving soon. Wow, I was thinking, I wonder what Gaylord Entertainment is donating? The closest Gaylord location to us is the Opryland Hotel & Resort in Nashville where I saw one of the Titanic Exhibits several years back. Well, they might have sent some relief supplies to Kentucky, but the gaylord you want for disaster relief is something altogether different.

Gaylords are large, strong boxes that fit on a pallet and allow you to organize volumes of product and move them about with a forklift or pallet jack. You’ve probably seen them at your local grocery filled with watermelons or pumpkins. Sometimes they are called gaylord bins or pallet boxes.

For a while, we were sorting donations from the soccer building into wheelbarrows. Each wheelbarrow took hands to load it, move it, sort it out onto tables in the expo building. Now one person with a pallet jack can bring 5 times as much in one trip, and volunteers sort from the gaylord straight onto tables. It’s difficult to describe how helpful these gaylords have been to our supply operation for tornado survivors, especially as the number of volunteers we have fluctuates and wanes. Right now when I picture some of the supplies, I see 14 small bicycles in one gaylord and dozens of rubber workboots that volunteers don to clean debris up out of local farm fields in another. Fabulous.

So what I learned from working disaster relief is that a gaylord is the best kind of box for working supply distribution. I’ve gone from not knowing what people were talking about to actually having my favorite kind of gaylord. As always, we are so grateful for every supply and box donated big or small. The road to recovery and rebuild is slow and long here in west Kentucky.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

______________

Kristin King has been working at the Tornado Relief Supply Center in Mayfield Kentucky for three months. Her location, the Mayfield Graves County Fairgrounds, is one of the few still taking donations. Most needed items are construction supplies, small kitchen appliances, and all the sundries tornado survivors need as they move from shelters into residences. Coffee pots and electric skillets are a couple of the most requested items folks want to replace. Volunteers are also needed five days a week.

 

Huh. (or What I Learned after the Kentucky Tornado)

There are lots of chemicals that shouldn’t even be stored near each other, especially in a disaster relief center where lots of people come through every day. Some are more dangerous than others and are dangerous in your home as well.

NOTE: Don’t store the pallets of bleach next to the pallets of hand sanitizer. An accidental mixture, maybe by forklift puncture, can make chloroform or hydrochloric acid.

Breathing too much [chloroform] can kill you. Hydrochloric acid can give you a chemical burn. The chemicals can cause organ damage and lead to cancer and other diseases later in life.

ThoughtCo.com

There are actually several dangerous combinations with bleach and even the go-to “natural” vinegar with which so many clean. Check out a quick list at the ThoughtCo

If you would like to help us recover from tornado devastation, please visit MayfieldStrong.com.

______________________

Kristin King is an author, mother of four adopted sons, real Army wife (retired), and is currently not writing much as she would like while she works many hours at the Mayfield Tornado Relief Center in her Kentucky hometown. Kristin’s service work regularly includes Future Hope Africa and CASA of Graves Co. and Southwest KY. Love God. Love people.