If you never left the Twitter-universe, where partisans on the far reaches of all sides of the political spectrum use their anonymity as a shield to spew vile accusations against opponents, you would never think humans —whatever their political beliefs — still have it within themselves to help each other in times of crisis.
The industry reaction to Hurricane Florence taught us that lesson once again in so many ways large and small. We saw it in the linemen with rural electric cooperatives who worked to restore power to coastal Carolina — even though their own homes had flooded out, as was the case with workers from Four County Electric Membership Corp. in Burgaw, NC, according to Gay Johnson, that group’s director of corporate communications.
We saw it in salespeople like Richard Franklin, area manager for eastern North Carolina for the Electri-Products Group rep firm, who worked 24/7 to secure generators, twist-locks, load centers, breakers, straps, split bolts, molded splices and taps, weatherheads, PVC pipe & fittings, meter cases, grounding connectors, service entrance wire and extension cords for his customers during storm recovery efforts.
And you saw it in the Gulf Coast’s Cajun Navy, which according to an abcnews.com report had “310 people from nine different states on the ground in New Bern, NC.” These folks hauled their boats more than 900 miles from the New Orleans area to North Carolina and rescued well over 100 people from their homes.
Many distributors and other electrical companies are exceptionally generous with their donations to causes serving areas impacted by natural disasters like Hurricane Florence. In addition to having a well-honed speciality in disaster recovery that includes a 24/7 response team, W.W. Grainger, Lincolnshire, IL, assists several nonprofit relief organizations with their storm recovery efforts, including the American Red Cross and Team
Rubicon, an international, veteran-led disaster response organization that unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams.
To date, Grainger has provided Team Rubicon with $120,000 in donations and products including high-visibility vests, first aid kits, utility knives, hard hats, personal flotation devices, SOS beacons, hammers and buckets. Grainger also donated more than $15,000 in product to the American Red Cross, including extension cords and leather gloves.
We saw the electrical wholesaling industry step up during the aftermath of 9/11 and in virtually all floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters since then, and for many years before. You can be proud to work in an industry that so many others count on in times of need.
CORRECTION
In the September issue’s cover story, “Prices Gone Wild,” the dates on the bottom of the Electrical Price Index chart on page 19 should have shown a 10-year period from July 2008 to July 2018. We regret the error.