Following the terrible destruction of the Bahamas by Hurricane Dorian in August, the Rotary Club of Roswell made a decision to do something about it. The Rotary International theme for this year is, “Rotary Connects the World” and the Roswell Club is no stranger to doing good beyond the borders of our country. It just so happened that Roswell Rotarian Ed Klaas was very familiar with providing assistance after a hurricane. During the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Ed used social media and his neighborhood contacts to gather emergency supplies. Once his garage filled up, he used one of his company's vans to personally drive them to the impacted area. He was ultimately routed to Jackson, MS, where the supplies were offloaded at a site where thousands of New Orleans evacuees were being housed temporarily. He then drove back to Roswell to spread the word of the extent of the damage and the need for more relief supplies. This led to a labor of love.

Since then, with every major hurricane to hit the southeast, Ed and his family, his neighbors and employees of Southern Sprinkler Systems have gathered, sorted, staged, loaded and transported literally tens of thousands of pounds of emergency supplies to those in need. Supplies have been delivered in Southern Sprinklers trucks and trailers to Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida. In addition, with the help of other social service organizations, relief supplies have been delivered by container to both Haiti and Puerto Rico. A number of organizations over the years such as the Cajun Navy, Knights of Columbus, Red Cross, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Columbia Cares, a variety of churches and grassroots organizations have helped by donating supplies and then getting them directly to those who needed them most.

With all of Ed’s experience, Roswell Rotary set about to provide relief. Owing to the fact that the Bahamas are a series of hundreds of islands spread out over thousands of miles, this natural disaster would have some unusual and difficult challenges. Collaboration between a number of previously unrelated individuals and organizations would be necessary. The Roswell Rotarians formed a committee, passed the word and began to gather supplies. On October 19, they hosted a drop off location at Roswell United Methodist Church on what turned out to be a rainy Saturday. With those donated supplies, as well as other donated items collected by Southern Sprinklers and the Roswell community, Roswell Rotary filled a large truck and van. Supplies were staged at a hangar at Cobb County International Airport thanks to Hawthorne Global Aviation Services and friends. The Rotarians met at a hangar to load everything into vehicles owned by Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (whose President/CEO is Stone Mountain Rotarian Chris Brand). FODAC took all of the donated supplies back to their warehouse where they palletized and shrink wrapped 13 pallets.

A number of people and connections were necessary to make this happen from start to finish. Roswell Rotarian Katha Stuart reached out to Ed and helped connect the dots to other friends such as Louis Herrera in Roswell and others in Florida to make the supply chain complete.

FODAC will be driving the pallets to Ft. Pierce, Florida where they will be unloaded re-loaded onto a barge and taken to the Abacos, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Dorian. The list of donations is vast but includes first aid supplies, formula, food, water, tents, tarps, backpacks, tools, diapers, clothes, cooking and cleaning supplies, hygiene products, water filtration kits, bedding, toiletries, etc. The total of this shipment alone totals 7,698 pounds! Each of these items will bring relief and joy to those who have lost everything and who need them desperately. In addition, approximately $2,500 was raised by Roswell Rotary to help the cause. As Ed likes to remind everyone, “this is a marathon, not a sprint. More will be needed and for a very long time. Thank you to Roswell Rotary, its members and friends. You truly live the motto, “Service Above Self!”