Tractor-trailer awaits contributions for hurricane relief
Rhode Island News, The Providence Journal
01:00 AM EDT on Monday, September 12, 2005
BY BENJAMIN N. GEDAN
Journal Staff Writer
WEST WARWICK -- The cavernous, 48-foot-long tractor-trailer sat mostly
empty Saturday morning next to Town Hall, in Arctic. But by tomorrow,
organizers hope, it will be overflowing with clothing, food and other
goods destined for those forced to flee New Orleans.
Michael G. Royster, a local merchant, borrowed the rig from his father's
company, Westwood Cartage, and attended last Tuesday's Town Council
meeting to seek help in organizing a benefit drive.
The council agreed, and early on Saturday Royster unlocked the trailer,
in a liquor store parking lot, and began loading the first donations,
toothbrushes and toiletries.
"I wanted to give something back," said Royster, 42, who was born in
Warwick and moved to Cranston in January after several years in
Connecticut. Royster's business, ICS Cleaning Services, recently opened
an office in West Warwick.
"I said to myself, 'There's got to be something I can do.'"
Royster and three employees spent Friday night cleaning the Brookside
Liquors parking lot before the tractor-trailer was brought in. Once the
rig is full, its contents will be transferred to other vehicles for
transport to the Gulf Coast, under the supervision of Westbay Community
Action, the nonprofit social services agency.
By early afternoon on Saturday, only about five people had brought
donations, mostly passersby and local residents, said Michael Royster's
nephew, Corey Royster, 18.
But council President Jeanne-Marie DiMasi pledged to publicize the
drive, as did Councilman Peter F. Calci Jr., who visited the collection
site on Saturday in his 1968 red Datsun Roadster. Organizers plan to
distribute more than 500 fliers advertising the collection drive.
Councilman Edward A. Giroux also attended the informal opening event,
alongside Leo J. Costantino Jr., who rode to the parking lot in his
Kawasaki motorcycle. DiMasi came, too, as did her sister, Lyn Blais, who
donated diapers and toothpaste to the hurricane victims.
The drive will continue today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and possibly be
extended. For more information on collections times and preferred
donations, call ICS Cleaning Services at 401-821-9600.
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