Sep 03 2017 7:22 pm

By M.K. It was Tuesday night, when two local teenage brothers were eating dinner and reading the latest news about the devastating hurricane in Texas.

One boy turned to his brother and said, “We must do something about this.” What was just a thoughtful idea coming from two concerned brothers, turned into a full-blown relief team operation that is still ongoing and is only getting bigger.

In an interview with TLS, one brother relayed how this amazing operation unfolded.

The boy (who wishes to remain anonymous) told TLS that he and his brother sat down and wrote up a message to send out on social media, stating they wanted to send a truck of food, clothing and basic necessities to Texas, and asked the public to help get involved. Their plan was to send the truck out before noon the next day so that it can get there in time for Shabbos. They also planned on sending kosher items that were needed for Jewish families who were struck by the storm.

Immediately after sending out their message, they were told that they should be in touch with someone from New York who can help them with permits they would need, to be able to enter the flooded areas in Texas.

One thing led to another, and before long they had the permits set up, a fund page for people to donate money and a drop off location for those who wanted to donate items.

The boys contacted Just 4 Wheels rental company to rent a truck, but were told that their trucks could not travel all the way to Texas and would need to be returned the next day. This didn’t deter them. They rented the truck anyways and decided to transfer the goods to another truck in New York.

By the time they finished working out the details for the truck and drop off location, it was already 1:00 am and all those who were involved had fallen asleep. Things were not looking too promising. This still did not deter the boys.

“I was going to stay with the truck however long I needed to make this happen,” said one of the brothers. And that’s what he did.

The boy recalls falling asleep next to his truck only to be awoken at 7:00 AM by people who heard about the operation and came to drop off various items to donate.

By 9:00 AM, there was a constant flow of items being brought but they wanted to get the message out to the entire community.

One of the boys contacted TLS telling them about the project and asked if they can put out a message to the community.

“Without the hero of TLS this would not have made it very far, and probably would not have ended up happening,” he said.

The boys realized that with the continuous flow of people coming to drop off donations, it would not be possible to take the truck to New York and transfer everything. So they contacted the rental company, and after seeing their efforts and progress, they were given the okay to have the truck for a few days and drive it directly to Texas.

Meanwhile, a local woman whom the boys praised immensely, had seen their message and started contacting local supermarkets and stores asking if they can help donate food, clothing and other items for this cause. Many stores responded generously, and before long there were trucks showing up with pallets of stuff all being donated to the truck heading to Texas.

The boys realized that they will need more time to load all the stuff, and pushed off the deadline to 7:00 PM.

As the afternoon went by, the donations grew so large that the boys considered getting a 2nd truck to fit all the items! They contacted Lucky truck rental, another local rental company, and went about the process of renting a second truck.

Hours went by, and a second truck turned into a third…

By 11:00 PM there were three trucks filled to capacity with all sorts of basic necessities ready to be sent out to Texas to assist those in need.

The boys said a very big thank you goes out to Just 4 Wheels and Lucky Truck Rental for being there for them even after hours, taking care of various needs such as signing on drivers and putting through insurance plans etc.

The third truck, the boys said, was driven down to the drop off location by the owner of Lucky himself, since nobody was available to pick it up.

By 1:00 AM, everything was in place and all three trucks were ready to head out.

They arranged for all trucks to have multiple drivers so they can drive straight without stopping (a 23-hour trip!), and for all trucks to travel together to avoid dangers that may lurk along the way.

By now, there was a full team of volunteers each helping to arrange and coordinate different aspects of the trip, and they were all in close contact with those in Texas who were going to be receiving the donations.

The destination was a Chabad organization in Houston, Texas, which had a headquarters set up to assist local Jewish families who were in need of kosher food and other items.

After an extremely long and tiring nearly 36-hour journey, the trucks arrived at Chabad in Houston early Friday afternoon where they were met by dozens of volunteers waiting to receive and unload their trucks.

The operation proved to be an amazing success and showed the genuine care and concern of the Lakewood community.

“There is no possible way to thank everyone,” said the boys. “There were so many dozens of people who jumped in and just offered their time, advice, and assistance. This was clearly a community effort and was something amazing to see. From store owners, to trip coordinators, to volunteers standing all day in the blazing heat loading the trucks, it was an emotional and amazing thing to see.”

The boys also made it clear that no one personally benefited from this campaign, not even the drivers who drove almost a full 36 hours straight! A fund page was set up to cover the truck rental and trip costs, among various other expenses that came up along the way. (Funds are still needed for this trip.)

In a bittersweet turn of events, the boys relayed how since their drop off location was at a local wedding hall, they were told they would have to move their loading operations to a quiet corner in order not to disturb the wedding.

This turned out not to be such an issue, since the Chosson was actually from Houston, Texas! Most of the guests who were planning to come to the wedding, were stuck in Texas! The boys recall how the parents came out in middle of the wedding extremely emotional and thanked everyone for what they were doing on behalf of their neighbors who were suffering. They took pictures saying they wanted to share them with their friends back home, and tell them that “Help is on the way!”

This is just the beginning of a much larger project, they said, and are working on broadening their efforts on an even larger scale.