The Catholic Charities of Dallas had a donation problem. In mid-May a regional food pantry offered them a large donation of food. Several full pallets’ worth – invaluable for their own food bank & disaster preparedness. But they didn’t have the ability to accept & distribute it.
Without getting people & equipment together fast, not only could they not take advantage of the generous donation, but the food could be lost.
The solution? Call in help!
Catholic Charities has been a customer of Southwest Materials Handling for years now. They called us and asked if they could borrow a forklift to help unload the food pallets at one of their Dallas locations. They also asked if we had an available forklift operator to drive the forklift.
After hearing the situation, Vice President Kenn Harper decided that this was too generous a donation to let go to waste. He loaded one of our favorite forklifts, a Komatsu FG30HT-16, on one of our delivery trucks. He drove it over to Catholic Charities, drove the forklift to their distribution area himself, and began unloading the food pallets.
The Komatsu did its job tirelessly. The FG30HT-16 has a capacity between 4,000 and 6,500 pounds. They’re designed for work in construction yards, so it made short work of the food pallets.
Within hours the truck was empty, and all the food was on its way into distribution. Hundreds of people would be well-fed thanks to these donations.
Southwest has sold Catholic Charities material handling equipment, and serviced their equipment, for years now. We also provide their team with training on safe forklift operation.
This however we viewed as necessary support for the Dallas community. So Kenn donated the use of the forklift and his time.
“Southwest is a company that cares about their customer and more importantly the mission behind who they serve. A company who goes over and beyond to help and serve in their own way.
Kenn and Jason have been instrumental in helping us provide food to our community. They volunteered their time and equipment to help ensure our America 250 donation was handled and able to go to the families in need.
Thank you for your partnership and making sure that our communities are nourished by providing your time and resources!”
~Jenna Reinke, Hunger Program Manager, Catholic Charities of Dallas
Sometimes a single forklift makes a big difference. We were happy to assist Catholic Charities when they needed it.
Interested in the forklift that made it happen? Here’s our Komatsu page with the FG30HT’s listing.
