Airlift brings bounty to county
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, June 15th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WALLA WALLA – Nearly a ton of food, toiletries, baby items and pet food were collected across the Pacific Northwest by general aviation pilots Saturday.
On Saturday, the Walla Walla Chapter of Disaster Airlift Response Team participated in a drill and helped collect the items. DART is a volunteer airlift resource with the goal of helping community and emergency responders in the event of a natural disaster.
DART volunteer Susan Chlarson said volunteers started the food drive in April. Over a two-month period almost 200 pounds were collected locally with another 100 pounds collected from various areas in the Pacific Northwest. The bulk of items were collected in Whatcom County.
“It was quite a day,” Chlarson added. “Eighteen airplanes brought everything in from out of the county.”
Blue Mountain Action Council in Walla Walla received 1,876 pounds of items Monday morning. Another 1,500 pounds of personal protective equipment (gowns, masks, gloves and sanitizer) were contributed to Walla Walla County by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
Walla Walla County Emergency Management Director Liz Jessee said the drill allowed DART to show its ability to locate and move PPE.
“There isn’t a shortage of PPE,” Jessee added. “However, the PPE will be distributed equally to various agencies within the county.”
Photo courtesy of Susan Chlarson
