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Precious cargoHe's driven countless miles and delivered thousands of loads across the continent. But trucker Pete Bruno says he's never delivered anything more precious than a cargo of bottled water, diapers, clothing and other donated items for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Linda White -- Special to the Toronto Sun |
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 [ 2005-09-21 ] |
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Doug Ring of Ajax hands trucker Pete Bruno blankets for his mercy run. Bruno is already planning a second run with supplies for the hurricane victims.
"One girl who helped us unload had lost pretty much everything ... She was wearing clogs and had terrible blisters on her feet. We were able to give her a pair of running shoes," Bruno says.
"Another woman spent half an hour with my wife, telling her about the dream house her and her husband had finished building a few months ago. They didn't have insurance yet ... She looked at us and said, 'I'll never forget your faces.' I had to walk away because I knew I was going to break down crying."
The Bowmanville trucker was in Tennessee when the hurricane struck. "The storm was pretty bad in Memphis, but I knew it was nothing compared to what hit a little further south. I was listening to CNN on satellite radio and the tears just wouldn't stop," he says.
Bruno has worked as a professional driver for more than 20 years. He drove taxicabs, school buses, tour buses and municipal buses before becoming a transport truck driver. Upon learning of the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he decided to launch a grassroots mercy run.
"All my life, I've sat around and never done anything in a situation like this. I began thinking, 'Mississippi isn't that far from Toronto.' I talked to my employer (Don Frankland of Frankland Cartage in Whitby) about borrowing a truck and trailer so I could deliver bottled water and he never hesitated."
Thanks to stories that appeared in The Toronto Sun, Bruno filled tractor-trailers parked at Costco in Ajax and Five Points Mall in Oshawa. "My wife had phoned The Sun to find out if someone could help us find out where we could deliver bottled water. Once the story hit the paper, the office phone started ringing off the hook ... One lady purchased 66 cases of bottled water ... Some people came from Niagara Falls and Georgetown."
The grassroots initiative highlights the important role truckers play. "I was pleased by the humanitarianism around here," says Don Frankland. "Everybody wanted to help. It took off beyond our expectations."
Bruno left Oshawa with two Canadian flags waving from his truck. Once he arrived in the States, he purchased and added an American flag. "I had so many people honking and waving at me, all the way down to Mississippi. I was getting goose bumps."
Two days later, he arrived in Long Beach, Miss., located within a mile of the Gulf of Mexico. "Along the way, I learned it was the hardest hit area but was receiving the least amount of help." Victims were waiting to help him unload. "People kept shaking my hand and patting me on my shoulder. It was unreal. It was instant gratification. I got to see the people I wanted to help."
Within days of returning home, Bruno was already planning a second run. "The help I brought down was just a drop in the bucket. They need so much."
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