Colorado grocer Steve Williams couldn’t just watch the news.
Local, state and federal agencies were failing Hurricane Katrina victims. And disaster-relief organizations, such as the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, were not getting through as people began to starve and thirst.
Williams, 48, owns five Super Foods grocery stores in small Colorado and Wyoming towns.
“I was in a unique situation,” he said. “I knew I could get access to a large volume of groceries fairly quickly.”
Williams found a list of relief organizations on the Internet and started calling them three days after Katrina hit the gulf Aug. 29.
“At most of them, I couldn’t talk to a human being,” he said. “And at the dozen or so (organizations) that I could speak with, I just got the runaround.”
Many just wanted cash. Others said they would accept the groceries but didn’t have a way to transport them.
One group seemed more excited about Williams’ donation than the others: “They said, ‘Our first shipment will be down there on Oct. 3,”‘ Williams said. “I was getting frustrated.”
Williams decided he would do something few others – for whatever reason – seemed capable of doing. He put together a caravan of four trucks loaded with groceries and bottled water. Knowing he couldn’t get to New Orleans, he aimed for the Mississippi coast.
“I’m in the grocery business,” he said, “and that’s what they needed.”
Williams grew up in the small town of Glenrock, Wyo., near Casper, where his father was a grocer. But Williams did not immediately follow in his father’s footsteps. He went to the University of Denver. He became a certified public accountant and practiced in Denver for 21 years.
It wasn’t until 1997 that he bought his father’s store. He didn’t begin managing the business until 2000.
He has since been expanding, targeting towns that are too small for the larger grocery chains. So far, he has acquired four stores – in Dubois, Wyo., and Stratton, Limon and Burlington. It was in Burlington where Williams launched his private hurricane-relief mission.
“He realized local people probably had a better chance of getting things done than the government,” said John Hudler, advertising director of The Burlington Record and a friend who helped Williams organize his effort.
Williams had groceries shipped to an affiliated store in St. Clair, Mo., as close as he could have them delivered to the gulf.
An office worker at the St. Clair store told him that the local New Hope Church happened to have three available trucks. The nondenominational church also knew of church sites that could be used as distribution points.
Al Bandel, a hardware-store owner in Burlington, loaned Williams a large truck as well. Grocery-store customers donated used clothes and cash. They even helped him pack the truck. By Sept. 6, just one week after the hurricane hit, Williams was on the road.
Williams said he didn’t know what to expect. He packed a handgun after hearing reports of people shooting at helicopters in New Orleans. He studied routes to be sure he would have access to fuel.
When he was about 60 miles away from Gulfport, Miss., he managed to contact a local sheriff by cellphone. The sheriff gave him advice on how to navigate what looked and felt like a war zone.
Williams said he worked 20-hour days distributing supplies directly to folks in Gulfport, Long Beach and Waveland.
“These people were so grateful,” he said. “And then when they found out I was just a stiff from Colorado, they couldn’t believe it.”
The trip took seven days. Williams said his effort barely made a dent. The hurricane has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
As a businessman, he doesn’t understand the politics and bureaucracy that have delayed the needed response. Slowly, government agencies and large relief organizations are coming to the rescue. But what happens to people in the meantime?
“Bureaucracy is an inevitable part of any large organization,” Williams said. “But when lives are at stake, you just can’t tolerate it.”
Al Lewis’ column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Respond to Al at denverpostbloghouse.com/lewis, 303-820-1967 or alewis@denverpost.com.
