American Logistics Aid Network
- Lombard, IL
- Website: http://alanaid.org/
- Lives Impacted: 10,000 +
Disaster recovery is never a single-handed effort. From a logistical standpoint alone, a complex value chain of suppliers, distributors, transporters, donors, coordinators, and volunteers must work in sync to ensure survivors receive the care and resources they need. American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) is a Good360 nonprofit partner that exists to connect all of these moving pieces and make disaster relief efforts considerably more efficient.
In late July 2022, the Mississippi Department of Health issued a boil-water advisory for residents of Jackson after samples revealed tap water was not safe to drink. Less than a month later, the crisis intensified when floods resulting from heavy rain led to the failure of Jackson’s largest water treatment plant. During this time, bottled water became a scarce commodity and a sought-after necessity for more than 150,000 affected residents of the state’s capital.
To help combat this disaster, the Home Builders Association of Mississippi (HBAM) approached Good360 to host a bottled water giveaway in the Jackson area. HBAM recommended ALAN as a resourceful partner since the organization has previously helped with other water crises. ALAN then began contacting their extensive network of industry partners to source a large quantity of water for Jackson residents. ALAN’s partner, Bottled Water Association (IBWA), followed up with the good news: Niagara Bottling, an IBWA member organization, would donate a truckload of bottled water.
“This was a Godsend to our citizens, who had not had clean drinking water in Jackson for more than three weeks,” wrote HBAM Executive Vice President Patrick Nelson in a thank you to donors.
But the need for assistance didn’t end there; a transportation donor was needed to get the water to its distribution point. Good360 contacted The UPS Foundation, a corporate partner, which agreed to donate the transportation.
From September 5- 13, UPS and The UPS Foundation delivered 130,000 bottles of water to Anderson United Methodist Church in Jackson, where members of the Home Builders Association of Mississippi (HBAM) were waiting to unload and distribute it to more than 10,000 grateful Jackson residents.
“ALAN and Good360 are perfect pieces to the puzzle of disaster response and recovery,” said Kathy Fulton, Executive Director at ALAN. “In this case, we leveraged each other’s logistics and product donation partners like many others. Our collaboration ensured that all available resources and assets were used to get water to Jackson, MS, as soon as possible.”
Good360’s collaboration with our network shows that when people are in need, organizations from all over are willing to provide help – especially if they have a facilitator to connect all the moving pieces. Partnering with companies and organizations dedicated to providing disaster survivors with long-term recovery and resources ensures that aid reaches survivors as fast as possible.
