PLANO, Texas — The holidays are a season of giving. People offer their time, money and sometimes, in the case of our local U-Haul stores, even a trailer donation in the name of helping our communities and those who are less fortunate.
“Donating the U-Haul 6×12 trailer was the least I could do to help get over 8,000 cans of food to the Plano Santas,” says Kristopher King, general manager at U-Haul Moving & Storage of Los Rios.
The nonprofit Plano Santas delivers food and gifts to families in need. The organization partners with the Plano Independent School District, collecting food that contributes to its community drives.
“Norma Jones, a (parent liaison) at Otto Middle School, which is less than a mile away from our U-Haul store, called to ask if U-Haul could help out in any way,” King says.
“When I got off the phone with Kris, I was almost in tears,” Jones adds. “It was a blessing to have U-Haul donate the trailer for such a good cause. Without their support, we couldn’t have done this. We needed everyone working together to help the needy families in our area.”
U-Haul partners with a handful of national organizations that share our mission, as well as charities in Phoenix, Ariz., where U-Haul is headquartered. The industry leader in do-it-yourself moving and self-storage assists other nonprofits on a local level when possible. U-Haul focuses its efforts on helping organizations that address people’s basic human needs (food, clothing and shelter) as well as the needs of veterans.
“We really care about the communities we are a part of,” King adds. “It’s great to give back, even if it’s just a trailer.”
U-Haul Trailer Transports 8,000 Cans of Donated Food
King delivered the U-Haul trailer to Otto Middle School to collect the donated food for the Plano Santas’ food drive. Students from all sixth-grade classes helped load over 8,000 cans of food into the U-Haul.
Twice the U-Haul trailer had to be loaded and driven to the organization’s warehouse, a process that took roughly three hours.
“The kids are so happy to see the U-Haul trailer. They thought it was really neat to use it for what they were doing,” King says. “U-Haul is a huge but largely silent part of the community’s life. People need us. It could be for moving, propane for cooking parties, or just getting kids’ bikes out of the storage unit.”
How have you given back to your community this holiday season? Share it with us in the comment section below!
