Hurricane Irma was a catastrophic category 4 storm that hit South Florida on Sept. 10, devastating coastal cities and knocking out power to more than 6.8 million people.
This horrendous storm killed at least 38 in the Caribbean, 34 in Florida, three in Georgia, four in South Carolina, and one in North Carolina. Irma’s effect has left an unfortunate mark upon those who are currently without homes, electricity and basic resources such as clean drinking water.
Following the destruction of Hurricane Irma, several businesses within the flower industry, spearheaded by Jet Fresh Flower Distributors' Captain Mike, joined forces to help those affected by the storm. Together, the companies arranged for an entire trailer-load filled with bottled waters to be picked up from the Wakefern Food Corp. Wholesale Division in Elizabeth, NJ, and delivered to the Feeding South Florida food bank by Wednesday, Sept. 20.
Feeding South Florida is the only Feeding America food bank serving Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties. They work closely in partnership with SERT, EOC and FEMA, and help ensure that food, water and other disaster supplies are well-stocked for support shelters. After the storm, they quickly mobilize providing resources with their network of 160+ commercial trucks, and 20+ warehouses with more than 500,000 square feet of storage for critical supplies.
The trailer was packed with 20 pallets containing 1,560 cases of bottled water. Each case included 24 bottles for a grand donation total of 37,440 bottled waters.
On Sept. 15 over $6,800 was raised from these generous companies. The funds helped provide the water, thanks in large-part to Juliette Rosmeyer of Wakefern Wholesale/International Sales. The transportation from New Jersey to Florida was generously provided by Julio Ramirez of APM Trucking, with back-up transportation made available to us by Randy Schenauer of Flower Transfer Logistics.
We greatly thank all of the companies that generously donated to this worthy cause. Without your support, we couldn’t have made this possible in such a short amount time.
If you’d like to make a donation to Feeding South Florida, please visit: https://feedingsouthflorida.org/donate-now/
Source: Jet Fresh Flower Distributors