We're going to need a bigger truck

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

Dress slacks on wire hangars were piled among garbage bags full of sweatshirts and toys. There were neatly folded button-down shirts bundled with green ribbon. Boxes of canned corn and sweet potatoes. Toilet paper, Ramen noodles, a tricycle.

By the time of publication, these donations for victims of Superstorm Sandy are on their way to Keansburg, N.J., a small town that has been unofficially adopted by the residents of Palm Coast.

Originally, Alan and Susan Wheeler hoped to fill their 20-foot AW Custom Kitchens box truck with goods to assist Keansburg residents, most of whom lost power for extended periods of time and some of whom lost their homes completely. But as the Wheelers sorted through the donations Nov. 8, in the Palm Coast Ford parking lot, one thing was clear:

We’re going to need a bigger truck.

Sales Manager Paul Summa and Alan Wheeler stood on the steps of the truck, debating logistics, working up a sweat in the crisp fall air, swapping stories of people who had contributed. Later that morning, Ford General Manager Don York announced Enterprise Rent-A-Car was contributing another truck. And multiple trips are expected to transport the goods.

Cars pulled into the parking lot one after another to unload. They waited in line at the drop-off point.

Clinging to the side mirror on the Wheelers’ truck, a stuffed Elmo beamed his approval. Alan Wheeler, in work jeans and a blue cotton shirt, said the woman who donated Elmo cried at the sight of the mounds of donations surrounding the truck. She has family in Keansburg, she said.

“Come over here,” said a giddy Wheeler, leading me through boxes of bottled water and piles of board games. “This woman is here for her second trip.” And he stepped out of the way, not interested in getting any credit for organizing the relief effort.

Here was June Leicher, who might be the most huggable 81-year-old in the city. She had two lap dogs in the passenger seat and a trunk full of items to send to Keansburg.

She started to talk, and then stopped, tears filling her eyes. “Too emotional,” she said. “This says a lot for people in Palm Coast. And Ford should be applauded.”

Leicher, and the other people who arrived to unload their donations, electrified the parking lot with a feeling of good will.

“We're just very happy that people have showed up in force, and I don't think we're even started yet,” Alan Wheeler said.

“The community of Palm Coast — look around you,” Summa added. “They are giving things they don't even have. … They’re just happy to help.”

A woman unloaded her vehicle earlier that morning and explained through tears that her son had brain cancer but survived. Giving back is what I have to do, because other people helped me, she said.

A man in a baseball cap shook Wheeler’s hand and gave him $200 in gas cards for his trip. The men spontaneously embraced, and parted ways, likely never to see each other again.

“It’s just one family helping another family,” Susan Wheeler said. “Some of them have family up there, but most of them don’t. They’re just nice people. They say they wish they could give more.”

One woman arrived to donate dishes, cowboy boots, clothes. She was on crutches.

Cori Vincent helped Susan Wheeler sort food in front of the truck. She also has helped spread the word to her friends via SwipSwap, a website that connects buyers and sellers in a sort of virtual garage sale, to convince them to donate their wares to the cause, rather than sell them.

Vincent has other concerns: She is in need of a kidney transplant. But, she said, “I can't change my situation. I feel like helping someone else.”

As she handed more food to Susan Wheeler, more and more trunks opened in the parking lot. “People are amazed, and they're coming back," she said. "You might not think there are that many good people out there these days, but this proves that wrong.”

If you missed the first trip, you’re not too late. York said the parking lot at Palm Coast Ford will remain a gathering place for donations. Call Summa’s cell at 853-0150 for more information.

And Alan Wheeler has designs on what to do with cash donations, as well. He was barely able to contain his excitement as he revealed that someone donated $50 gift card to Walmart. He said he’s going to wait until the last minute and buy fresh fruit to bring north. Things people can’t get right now. Things to show them that, several states to the south, in a small town called Palm Coast, we’re pulling for them.