Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America (MFTA), its Japanese parent company, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Co. (MFTBC), and Dothan, AL-based dealer Coffman International presented the American Red Cross, Wiregrass Area Chapter, with three Mitsubishi Fuso trucks.
The Wiregrass Area Chapter of the American Red Cross has been helping victims in the Katrina disaster zone immediately after the Hurricane struck, MFTA noted.
The Class 3 FE model trucks each have a payload capacity of 6,000 lbs. Logistically, whenever a disaster threatens the region, two of the trucks will be assigned immediately to the disaster zone, while the third remains with the Wiregrass Area Chapter to ferry relief supplies and materials to its shelters.
In a brief ceremony held in Dothan on Oct. 20, representatives of the three firms presented the vehicles' keys to Susan B. Holmes, executive director of the Red Cross's Wiregrass Area Chapter.
"In recent years - since Ivan, really - we've learned that we're in a strategic location to serve as a pre-disaster staging area when hurricanes threaten the Gulf Coast," said Holmes, "We have shelters across our four-county region, and getting supplies from our headquarters to the shelters has been a challenge. These trucks are an answer to prayer."
For more information, go to www.mitfuso.com.