Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow - - -

by John Aldrich

Nothing was going to keep the spring food delivery from reaching the warehouse this morning. A strong winter storm front was forecast for the Salt Lake Valley, and it arrived pretty much on schedule. But we were ready. C.J. Robb had carefully ordered all the food and planned the logistics, while Boyd Mitchell rented a big Penske truck to move it all from Walmart to the warehouse.

The storm front blew in shortly after the first truckload arrived.

Boyd has faithfully filled this role for years now, and the weather didn't keep him from displaying his usual cheerful smile.

Manpower is always a prized commodity on these delivery days, and today we had plenty of it. Once the pallets of food are offloaded from the truck they must be moved into the warehouse and the cartons of food moved from the pallets to their places along the wall. There is lots of lifting involved with many of the items being quite heavy.

But the Granger High School football team came to the rescue and provided all the manpower we needed for this task.

Assistant coach Sam Aloia was behind all this. Sam and his wife, Sandi, are relatively new volunteers at ANE, having started volunteering at the warehouse about six months ago. They jumped right in and helped deliver Christmas stockings to the Chinle area last December and will participate in their first food run this spring.

Sam offered this service opportunity to his football players as a purely optional activity, and this group of fine young men stepped up to help.

Besides their muscle power, they brought friendly, cheerful dispositions that added a great deal to the warehouse. It also meant another trip out for extra doughnuts. If today was any example, these young men should do well in life.

And behind it all, of course, was the ever-unflappable C.J..

We're off to a good start in preparing for the upcoming spring food runs.