Sens defenceman helps relief effort
By
MICHAEL JIGGINS
Staff Writer
September
19, 2007
SMITHS
FALLS -- A big assist from Ottawa Senators
defenceman Chris Phillips has helped a drive here score
big for hurricane Katrina victims.
Calling it mission accomplished - at this end at least
- Michele McRae and her truck driver husband, Ron, were
to set out this morning at 7 a.m. with a tractor-trailer
of donated items worth $100,000.They're bound for hurricane-ravaged
Gulfport, Mississippi and hope to arrive there Wednesday
afternoon.
Michele McRae admitted Sunday she was surprised they managed
to fill the 53-foot trailer, which has been parked in
the County Fair Mall since last Saturday.
"I shouldn't be surprised because I know this community,
but I just remember standing in that empty trailer going,
'Oh my god, can we do this?'" she said Sunday night.
"Now that was kind of a silly question because this
community has come through unbelievable."
Her
plea for help reached all the way to Ottawa where Phillips
called up a
radio station after hearing about the McRaes's drive.
Michele McRae said the blue-liner dipped into his own
pocket for $5,000, got his teammates to match that and
by the time she met him at an Ottawa Costco on Friday,
the total was up to $15,000.
"He just gave me a big hug and said thanks for doing
this," recalled Michele McRae, adding the pleasure
was all hers. "It was every girl's dream come true:
$15,000 and a nice-looking hockey player," she laughed.
The Senators' efforts were the only major donation. "The
rest of it came one bag at a time from our community,"
Michele McRae stressed. The last donation, three bags
of groceries came just as the McRaes were closing down
at 6 p.m. Sunday. Ironically, three bags of groceries
got the ball rolling on donations last Saturday.
Donated items - all newly purchased and sealed to make
crossing the border easier - run the gamut from bottled
water, canned and dried food to diapers, personal hygiene
products and laundry detergent.
Ron McRae drives for Wills in
Smiths Falls, whose owners Terry and Heather Wills donated
the tractor-trailer. Donors from the area also chipped
in the $2,500 in fuel it will take to get the couple there
and back.
Michele McRae has family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and
has spent lots of time in the Gulf Coast region. Although
she's talked to people who have taken part in the recovery
efforts, she's still not sure she's prepared for what
she'll see. "It's going to be hard, very hard for
me," she said.
Katrina slammed into the southern U.S. on August 29, cutting
an unbelievable swath of destruction. Much of the focus
has been on New Orleans, but said Michele McRae, "They
forgot about Mississippi that got the eye of the storm."
In talking with aid workers in the region, she's been
assured what they're
bringing is needed. "Everybody has this big surge
of stuff that gets there and they are starting to get
depleted," she said.
The couple's itinerary will see them cross the border
at Fort Erie sometime today. Industry regulations allow
Ron McRae to drive no more than 11 hours in every 24 during
the 3,000-mile roundtrip. They'll stop to visit family
in Baton Rouge and hope to return late Saturday or Sunday.
With the truck packed and ready to roll, Michele McRae
said all that's left now is "to make sure my truck
driver is nice and rested."
-
Published in Section A, page 4 in the Monday, September
19, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.
