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.

 

You might be working disaster relief if…

You might be working disaster relief if you hear yourself saying to a fellow volunteer, “You can come in at 8am if you want, but tomorrow’s my day off. I won’t be here till nine.”

–Kristin King is going on month three of working at the Tornado Relief Supply Center in Mayfield Kentucky. 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 to move from shelters into residences.