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Another convoy leaves the thumb to help farmer affected by wildfires

Tisha Jones

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 08:17:12 EDT

click on the picture to enlarge

   On Sunday morning, a convoy of 12 trucks left Zwerk and Sons Farms in Vassar to join up with over 35 other trucks in the Perry area to travel to the wildfire ravaged areas of Kansas and Oklahoma. What was supposed to be just a few trucks from Huron and Tuscola County turned into a six-county effort with many companies and drivers volunteering their time and fuel.
    Eric Timmins of Zwerk and Sons Farms in Vassar contacted Stephanie Adam of Countryside Transportation and as Adam says, the effort grew from there. Leaving from Zwerk’s on Sunday were 12 trucks, 10 carrying hay or straw and 2 carrying fencing supplies.
    All drivers on this trip are doing so voluntarily, taking time off work and some paying their own fuel costs for the trip. While the estimated fuel costs for this trip are around $1,300 per truck, she says they don’t want any donations to be made toward fuel. The round-trip is scheduled to last 4-5 days.
Adam says there are already over 10 drivers signed up on a waiting list. She said the work was in coordinating trucks with trailers. She said once they get down there and see what needs still exist, they will determine if they are going to plan another trip.
    “They just want to help because they know if it was us and it was them, they’d be up here too. Truckers might seem hard and scary, but they’ve got the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen,” Adam said. “From the little thing to the thousand dollar checks, and the drivers that are taking a week’s pay.”
Dave Rupprecht of Zwerk and Sons said, “We just said whatever they needed, we’ve tried to make sure that everybody had a trailer to pull that wanted to go. There actually were more donations made than what we had trucks, which is a great thing, so I think there’s other people that are going to be going down in the future.”
    “It’s family. It’s not just community anymore. It’s everyone coming together as one,” said Timmons of the outpouring of support from the community.
Rupprecht said, “I don’t think people realize what some of those ranchers and people lost out there. Some of them lost everything. Some of them lost cattle, a lot of their buildings, so it’s been wonderful to see our driver Eric and Stefanie and this whole group of guys get together and going out together for people they don’t know, complete strangers, but they know they’re in need of help.”
    “It’s not surprising. People in our industry, in the trucking industry and in the agricultural industry, are always very generous, so we’re not surprised by the outpouring of support.” Timmons agreed saying that farmers and truckers are a family.
    Many donations were purchased through Tractor Supply Company (TSC) in Caro and picked up on Saturday. A challenge to fill a truck went out on social media and donations poured in from all over the region. Surprisingly, donations from out of state also came in, including a $150 piece of equipment purchased from California for pick up at the TSC in Caro. Adam said she would be writing a letter to the corporate offices praising the Caro store for their organization and hard work. She said the staff went above and beyond to ensure everything that was donated online was loaded onto the trucks.
Matt Schaller, from Lapeer, first started convoy efforts about three weeks ago with less than a dozen trucks. Now convoys are leaving from various points throughout the state reaching as many as 300 scheduled for next week. He said it started with hay because it they had nothing to feed the cattle. They were also asking for supplements and milk replacers for calves.
    “To see a little idea blow up into something that the whole state gets behind, is really impactful on myself. It goes to show you that the Ag community, no matter where you’re from in the Country or even across borders because I know Canada is stepping up to send trucks down too, it doesn’t matter where you’re at in this country, if you’re a rancher or a farmer they’re going to going to stand behind their own,” said Schaller.
    Convoys are coordinating with relief efforts in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. He said they’re working on streamlining communication with Schaller said the people he met on his first trip down were very gracious and, “Have a lot of grit.” He says though they’ve been through a lot they still welcome people with a smile.
A special fund has been set up for those who wish to donate for long-term help. It’s called the Michigan Agriculture Community Wildfire Relief Fund. Donations can be dropped off at any Chemical Bank branch in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, or any Tri-County Bank.
    As the convoy headed south, they were met by a small group of supporters in Richville. The group waved flags and the truckers responded by sounding horns. Each truck had a flag attached to back of it which will be given to farmers and ranchers when they drop off the supplies.
Troy and Jami McIntosh of Fairgrove were out in Richville and said they used the experience as a learning tool for their children. They hadn’t seen it on the news. They said their sons helped their seven-year-old daughter understand. Troy said, “It’s really cool to see big companies like this come together and help people out of state in our Country. It’s really nice.”
     A Facebook page has been set up to track information about the convoy in the Thumb. You can search Michigan Convoy- Thumb effort.


Right: A convoy leaving left Sunday to meet up with more trucks leaving from Perry, MI. Twelve trucks left Zwerk and Sons Farms on M-46 in Vassar Twp.

Below: Before they loaded up, all the trucks lined up outside Zwerk and Sons Farm for a picture. A couple might be hiding in the shadows.