Red Cross, Salvation Army Bring Canteen Truck to County
By Paul Gingras

Tuesday, February 6, members of the Mackinac County Disaster Action Team (DAT), a local division of the Red Cross, pose with Mitch LaPorte of the Cheboygan Salvation Army in front of a "canteen" vehicle that will help the Red Cross provide food, beverages, shelter, and comfort to first responders and survivors of emergencies. Pictured (back, from left) are Wayne Burnett, Chris Grace, Susan Bentley, Sally Willis, director of Mackinac County Emergency Services, Barb Alkire, and Donna Goldthorpe, chairperson of Mackinac County DAT; (front) Mitch LaPorte and Tammy Cruickshank. (Photograph courtesy of Red Cross)

First responders and disaster survivors will benefit from a Red Cross vehicle that will provide food, coffee, and a place to rest during emergencies such as fires, said Donna Goldthorpe, chair of the 19-member Red Cross Disaster Action Team of Mackinac County.

At the regular Red Cross meeting Tuesday, February 6, Mitch LaPorte of the Cheboygan Salvation Army brought a large box truck to St. Ignace and showed off its capabilities. The truck is owned by the Salvation Army, which will deliver it to the Red Cross during emergencies, Mrs. Goldthorpe explained. It will take about one hour to drive the truck to St. Ignace and approximately one more hour to drive it from the Mackinac Bridge to the scene of an emergency in a western township.

The operation is known as a canteen. The spacious vehicle, stocked with food, water, and coffee, also contains two generators for emergency use.

Canteens are helpful in disasters in which relief workers are on site for extended periods of time, such as when a tanker truck went into a ditch near Engadine November 24, 2005. It was cold and windy during the emergency, Mrs. Goldthorpe said, and relief workers were on site for at least 24 hours. The Red Cross set up a card table in the middle of M-117, which had been closed, to provide workers with sandwiches and warm soup. Gusts of high wind and snow made it difficult to maintain the simple Red Cross relief station.

The canteen will offer improved services for relief workers and survivors. The organization has been looking for a similar vehicle, but did not want to spend $65,000 to purchase one, owing to the fact that it would be idle most of the time, Mrs. Goldthorpe said. The Red Cross has not needed to provide canteen service in Mackinac County since April 2006.

While the local Red Cross was looking for a vehicle, the Cheboygan Salvation Army was seeking to expand its services to a larger area.

"They were very willing to work with us," Mrs. Goldthorpe told The St. Ignace News. "The arrangement is perfect."

Sally Willis, the new Emergency Services director for Mackinac County, attended the meeting and was able to meet the Red Cross team and get a good look at the canteen.

The primary responsibility of the Red Cross is to serve survivors, while the responsibility of the Salvation Army is to help responders. In some situations, the organizations split their responsibilities, such as during forest fires, where there may be a great need for responder support and no need for victim support.

The local Red Cross has one member on call 24 hours a day, Mrs. Goldthorpe added. This person is equipped with a "comfort kit" and vouchers for food and supplies. The organization, however, has not needed to respond to emergencies for almost a year.

"Things have been very quiet," she noted.