Businesses and community partner to collect supplies for hurricane relief

All over Delaware, communities have come together to help collect supplies for continued relief efforts in Houston following Hurricane Harvey. The Home Builders Association of Delaware partnered with Two Men and a Truck with hopes of sending one truckload of supplies to Houston. Several association member-businesses volunteered as drop-off locations in each county. As the public learned of the efforts, more and more community members began to provide donations and assistance.

Resort Custom Homes of Lewes collected items in Sussex County. Owner Mark Grahne delivered items to HBADE staff on several occasions to get them to Two Men and a Truck. Sunny Dean, also of Resort Custom Homes, helped sort and repackage things to load the truck for transport.

Schell Brothers of Rehoboth rented a box truck and hosted a weekend collection drive. Mark Moore, senior construction manager for Schell, delivered the stuffed vehicle to Two Men and a Truck. The items Schell Brothers collected filled almost an entire garage bay.

JS Homes of Bear was the collection point in northern New Castle County. Soon, Melissa Scott of JS Homes called the HBADE office to say that Jenner's Pond, a retirement community in Pennsylvania, had an 18-foot box truck filled. JS Homes also collected a number of items from local community members to send to Houston.

Middletown Kitchen and Bath of Middletown was a collection point in southern New Castle County. Mark Gandy, owner of MKB, collected many items, and when another charity backed out of an arrangement with a local fire company to deliver 18 additional pallets of supplies, Gandy found them transportation and a driver. Mark also joined Two Men and a Truck to help sort through donations to repackage and load for transport.

Frank McKee Jr. of McKee Builders of Springfield, Pa., also did a drive at a favorite coffee spot. They were able to collect several SUVs full of items.

Ted Ammann of the Red Clay School District reached out to Home Builders Association of Delaware because the district wanted to do a drive, but had no way to transport the items. HBADE and Two Men and a Truck agreed to take their items. Children from the district filled an 18-foot box truck with items such as school supplies, toiletries, pet supplies and nonperishable food items. Ammann and some of his co-workers drove the truck to Two Men and a Truck and filled an entire garage bay with the items they collected.

Two Men and a Truck of Dover was the collection point for Kent County, and they also kindly donated a truck and driver. Owner Jeremy Brown said items trickled in every day. After receiving three truckloads of deliveries from other locations, Home Builders Association and Two Men and a Truck had no choice but to consider cutting off the collection efforts several weeks early, but Brown did not turn away items. In the end, Brown rented an additional truck and provided an additional driver to take the collected supplies to Texas. Leon N. Weiner & Associates donated funds to toward transport expenses.

The collective efforts resulted in 29,500 pounds of goods to send to Houston. Items were delivered to be distributed with the help of Texas local Greater Brazos Valley Builders Association.

The association thanks Leon N. Weiner & Associates; Ted Ammann of Red Clay School District; Jeremy Brown, Two Men and a Truck; Sunny Dean, Resort Custom Homes; Mark Gandy, Middletown Kitchen and Bath; Mark Grahne, Resort Custom Homes; Frank McKee Jr., McKee Builders; Mark Moore, Schell Brothers; Rose Selman, Greater Brazos Valley Builders Association; Melissa Scott, JS Homes; Bob Taylor, JS Homes; and the community for their generous donations.