By Ken Rosenauer, Red Cross Public Affairs
ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI — It was a beautiful spring day at the HazMat building in St. Joseph, not too far from the disastrous flooding that has ravaged Northwest Missouri.
Buchanan County Emergency Management Director Bill Brinton and Red Cross Community Partnerships Lead Bill Caldwell awaited the delivery of donations for flood relief.
At 8:50, a yellow Penske truck pulled up, driven by Jody Dickhaut. This morning he was wearing his director of Adventist Community Services hat. Another hat he wears is his Seventh Day Adventist pastor’s hat. When not responding to disaster, he pastors Seventh Day Adventist churches at Hannibal, Missouri, and Moberly, Missouri.
He and Adventist volunteer Barry Diede were bringing tons of supplies, 13 pallets in all, ranging from Gatorade and bulk snacks to Moldex and bleach. One pallet was loaded with bags of dog and cat food — often overlooked victims of natural disasters.
Caldwell had worked out a storage deal between Brinton, the Seventh Day Adventists and the Red Cross.
Brinton had offered space at the HazMat building to Adventist Community Services so they could store emergency supplies closer to the current disaster. Dickhaut hauled them from an Adventist warehouse in Centralia, Missouri. They came from a warehouse in Concord, Virginia, operated by Gleaning for the World, which gathers surplus medical and essential supplies for distribution to humanitarian projects.
And the Penske truck Dickhaut was driving? Donated by Penske as part of a long-standing charitable agreement with Seventh Day Adventists.
All these organizations, public and private, came together with the Red Cross to assist victims of disaster. It’s a team effort. It’s the Red Cross way.