The year 2005 will always be remembered as the year Hurricane Katrina roared ashore and devastated the Louisiana and Mississippi gulf coast. While this column will normally be devoted to sharing information about interesting and exciting projects InLine has completed for our diverse clients, in this season of sharing and caring, we thought we would share our small part in the efforts to help our friends and neighbors in need this last year.
After Katrina leveled homes and displaced families, InLine management and staff felt that we could not stand by while our friends in Louisiana and Mississippi suffered through the storm's aftermath. InLine therefore spearheaded our own Katrina relief efforts, as everyone at InLine pitched in to participate.
In addition to raising a sizable sum of money through employee donations, InLine also organized groups of volunteers to bring relief directly to the people of Louisiana and Mississippi. As a company that specializes in solving problems, we at InLine know that sometimes the best solution is the simplest solution; and sometimes the simplest solution is rolling up your sleeves and lending a helping hand---and that's exactly what the InLine management and staff did.
InLine employees volunteered their time to directly assist in Katrina relief efforts, as InLine sent work crews on-site to hurricane ravaged parts of Mississippi and Louisiana. Armed with chainsaws, shovels, generators, and all the food and water they could carry, InLine volunteer crews went to work helping Louisiana and Mississippi residents recover and begin to rebuild.
The InLine loading platform became a relief station, as employees who normally load and unload computers and technical equipment devoted themselves to the selfless task of loading over 20,000 bottles of fresh drinking water into trucks. InLine drivers then braved the harsh conditions and shortages of gas to deliver water directly to the people who desperately needed it in central and southern Mississippi and Louisiana.
Everyone at InLine found a way to participate in the relief efforts. Even InLine President and CEO, Martin Costa, donned a hardhat and work gloves, as his team worked side-by-side with hurricane victims and other InLine volunteers to deliver food and help clear debris to reopen the streets in the town of Slidell, Louisiana. "I'll never forget the look on one little girl's face," recalls Mr. Costa. "We were giving out cookies to kids whose families had lost everything, and she came up and told me that she just wanted one cookie, because she didn't want us to run out before the other kids got a cookie." Martin's smile says it all as he goes on to say, "I handed her a whole case of cookies and told her I'd make sure the other kids all got cookies too. She smiled up at me and her face lit up like it was Christmas morning---I'll never forget that little girl."
InLine is very proud to have done our part to provide relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina. While our participation was only a very small part of the overall relief efforts, we know that we made a difference in the lives of hundreds of families. At InLine, we are in the business of solving problems---but this time, helping to solve someone's problems was not a business matter---it was a matter of compassion. So InLine put business matters aside and took the time to show compassion and lend a hand, so that we could be a part of the solution. InLine would like to encourage all businesses to contribute in any way possible to the ongoing relief and rebuilding efforts taking place in our neighboring gulf coast states.
We'd like to wish our friends in Mississippi and Louisiana a very Merry Christmas, and extend our most sincere wishes for a New Year full of hope as they work to rebuild their communities.