Manitou North America, based in Waco, TX, began working with the American Red Cross shortly after Hurricane Katrina to determine needs and a location for the donation of a rough-terrain reach truck to be used in the relief effort.

A MLT 523 compact reach truck was decided upon and delivered to the Red Cross multi-agency warehouse in New Iberia, LA. From this warehouse, the Red Cross, working with other relief agencies, has been coordinating all receipt and distribution of donated items to Katrina and Rita victims.

Serge Bosché, president of Manitou North America, presented the truck to Lavida Whitson, American Red Cross coordinator for the State of Louisiana. Also present were Bob Mitchell, general manager of the distribution center and Kyle Cox, president of Iberia Rental Center, Manitou’s rental agency representative in New Iberia.

Whitson and Mitchell both expressed their thanks to Manitou for this donated truck.

“We have trucks that can work inside but we receive many truckloads of non-palletized contributions that we have to unload outside. With this unit we can now place the pallet into the truck because of the reach capability making the unloading easier and, it will be nice to work in the rain without getting wet,” they said.

Manitou, worldwide leader in rough terrain forklift trucks, continues its corporate commitment to the Red Cross, following the donation of a machine to the relief efforts in Southeast Asia for tsunami victims.

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