Columbus Tech sends aid to storm-ravaged Albany

It was a good example of a coordinated relief effort.

Sometimes compassion takes a scattershot approach: Hearing tornadoes have devastated a neighboring region, charities call for donations without first asking what’s needed, with the result that those affected end up with too many things they don’t need, and too few things they do.

When Columbus Technical College joined other Georgia vocational schools in gathering goods for Albany, where a Jan. 22 storm so damaged Albany Technical College that it has yet to resume classes, organizers first asked what to ask for.

The list was long, but not a given: Bottled water, often among the early contributions, wasn’t needed, nor were personal hygiene supplies.

What was needed?

Individually packaged snacks, Gatorade, soft drinks, work gloves, towels, bedding, underwear, socks, house-cleaning supplies, nonperishable food and small toys.

Columbus Tech set out bins, advertised on social media, and started gathering goods on Jan. 23. On Thursday, a truck from South Georgia Technical College in Americus came by the Manchester Expressway campus to collect the donations workers had sorted, labeled and shrink-wrapped for delivery.

“It just shows the heart that we have here at Columbus Tech,” said Cheryl Myers, the college’s director of community and college relations. “We’re all in this together. … There but for the grace of God go us. They would do the same for us, were the storm to have affected us the way it did them.”

This story was originally published February 2, 2017 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Columbus Tech sends aid to storm-ravaged Albany."