Relief effort brings in 32,000 pounds of supplies

Monte Brown called it "a Fremont thing."

A donation of 32,000 pounds of supplies to Hurricane Katrina came about, he said Sunday, as a result of area residents' quick and generous response to the Aug. 29 storm.

Within hours after Katrina laid waste to the Gulf Coast region, Brown, who co-owns Phelps Company Inc. with Mike Paulson, contacted government officials in Louisiana and learned victims there particularly needed bottled water, diapers and baby food.

Brown put out the call to area residents who brought in enough items to fill two semi-truck trailers loaned by Fremont Contract Carriers.

An FCC driver hauled one load to the Greater Baton Rouge (La.) Food Bank where it was distributed to first-responding organizations, directly stricken areas, to shelters housing displaced evacuees, to churches providing assistance to displaced families living with local relatives, and to the American Red Cross. A second truckload went to New Iberia, La.

"I want to say a big ‘thank you' to the Fremont area," said Brown. "They really stepped up to the plate."

Brown and his staff began accepting items at the Phelps offices almost immediately after he said his company would handle the warehousing and delivery of donations.

"We also received some pretty large monetary donations to buy more product," Brown said. "Some went on the truck and the rest went to the Red Cross."

Brown thanked the United Way for handling the monetary transactions.

"It was a real community effort," he said.

The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization which distributes food to more than 100 member agencies in an 11-parish area. Through this network, the Food Bank helped more than 4,700 people each day and distributed more than 7 million pounds of food last year, said spokesperson Katie Nuebel.

Since Hurricane Katrina, the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank has worked around the clock responding to the food needs of numerous parishes in Louisiana.

Nuebel said it has been estimated that Baton Rouge has doubled in population with most of those people needing food assistance. Currently, the Food Bank is operating at four times its normal capacity of food processing and distribution.

In the first phase of response, the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank has distributed more than 1 million pounds (500 tons) of nonperishable foods, fresh produce, dairy products, supplies and equipment.

"The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank would like to thank Phelps Company, Inc. for its generosity and dedication to the long-term recovery of south Louisiana," Nuebel said, "and also would like to thank all the organizations and individuals that helped in making this donation possible."