As 83 of Iowa's 99 counties were declared as disaster areas, Ruan Transport Corp. was already hard at work, assisting customers and individuals impacted by flooding and tornadoes in the Midwest in May and June.
The first initiative this season took place in late May, when Ruan partnered with the American Legion Riders 663 of Urbandale IA to coordinate donations for Parkersburg IA tornado victims, providing food, clothing, and other survival items along with a Ruan driver and a semi-trailer truck. Ruan coordinated a second donation campaign, along with a driver and truck, the week of June 2 for Parkersburg.
When Iowa experienced record flooding in subsequent weeks, Ruan's Des Moines IA terminal collected several truckloads of bottled water to send to Cedar Rapids, Iowa's second-largest community and one of the hardest-hit, where an estimated 24,000 residents were forced to leave their homes.
Ruan also has assisted in Indiana, where tornadoes and floods have taken a toll and where Ruan provides service with terminals in nine cities. It provided 40,000 pounds of relief to four counties by filling a 53-foot Ruan trailer.
Ruan drove its supply-laden truck to the Wal-Mart in Shelbyville IN for distribution of items by its own volunteer base and the Salvation Army offices in Bartholomew, Hancock, Johnson, and Shelby counties. Ruan collected more than 200 cases of water, canned goods and non-perishable food, as well as paper products and personal care items.
Ruan came to the aid of Manhattan KS when a June 11 tornado ripped through homes, businesses, and the Kansas State University campus. Ruan driver Jeff Allen overheard terminal manager Kevin Jones arranging a relief load and volunteered to stay on the job, despite being only hours away from a planned family vacation. Within two hours of the emergency call, the truck was loaded, and Allen and Jones were headed to Manhattan. Ruan again donated the services of truck and driver to provide an emergency delivery of products to assist those in need in a storm-ravaged town.