KME shipping tarps to help hurricane victims

Hurricane Michael devastated the panhandle of Florida.

Homes were destroyed.

Towns decimated.

Lives uprooted.

The supplies to help those who lost so much earlier this month by the monster Category 4 storm that roared through many beach communities have been lacking and damaged roofs and remaining belongs have been exposed to the elements, causing yet another blow to those who already lost so much.

But one local business is doing what it can to fill the needs for tarps across the Panama City area.

KME in Nesquehoning shipped dozens of tarps to the Florida community in hopes of helping those who are trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces of their lives and begin to rebuild.

“When the hurricane hit, you normally hear about the need for food and water, all those types of things, but we didn’t really catch any of that through news outlets,” said Brian Connely, vice president and general manager of KME. “One thing that did stick out was what (the media) did say. There was a lack of tarps. They didn’t have them to protect their houses, to protect their property.

“So we thought if we are going to do something, then let’s give them what they need. That’s how we came up with the tarp idea.”

Over a two-week period, employees of KME’s Nesquehoning and Roanoke, Virginia, plants brought in new tarps for the KME Cares initiative and they were packaged up Thursday to send them to the Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center in Panama City for distribution.

Kevin Steber, contract administration manager at KME, explained that the project is truly a KME effort, adding that the distribution site came about by a former KME employee and Nesquehoning resident, Mike Wargo, who is now the vice president of preparedness and emergency operations at HCA Healthcare in Nashville, Tennessee. HCA Healthcare manages 178 hospitals and 119 free-standing surgery centers across 20 states.

Steber contacted Wargo, who had been part of a team deployed to Panama City after the hurricane, and asked if he could help get a contact for a distribution site for the tarps. The rest, as they say, is history.

Connely said that the initiative, which was supported by REV Group, the owner of KME, shows just how community-oriented KME’s employees truly are.

Through KME Cares, the employees are working to make a difference in the communities they live in.

“We look at the needs of our community,” Connely said. “We try to help where we can … with the talents that we have. We’re doing this as neighbors helping neighbors.

“Whether it is hurricane relief or doing a blocking sled frame for a knee-hi football program, it all comes from our employees here. We look for those specific things where we can help because we have the talent to do it.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Steber added. “It’s all about the community. We’re committed to the community at large.”

Suzanne Simkovich, marketing coordinator, said that the employees here are very generous and kind.

“This is an example of what they do,” she said.