Thibodaux, La. - Sandy Arabie keeps checking the comments on Facebook.
"Everything we could possibly need or want was in those trucks," he says, quoting one of the comments left on Lagniappe from the Bayou's page. "We truly appreciate your help and can't thank you enough."
Arabie gets a little choked up when he reads the messages.
Two of his company's trucks pulled into Amityville, New York Tuesday morning, ending a 1,400-mile journey from Thibodaux.
Trey Ledbetter helped drive one of the tractor-trailers and says it was a tense trip through the Big Apple. "Some of the signs said that the clearance was only a certain footage and our trailers are a lot larger than that," he says, speaking by phone from Amityville. "New York cops said disregard the signs, go ahead through and we ended up making it within an inch."
Dozens of people waited to greet the trucks when they arrived on Long Island. They helped unload the trailers, carrying in 120,000 pounds of donated goods in less than half an hour.
People who lost everything got food and clothing, and a little girl received two huggable teddy bears. The crew also brought 12 large turkeys for a community Thanksgiving dinner.
Arabie says the items and the amount donated overwhelmed him.
"Anything from people going to the store and buying brand new stuff to going in their house and going through the closets and emptying out their closets and bringing their extra clothes and things that they had at their house they still had tags on, they hadn't worn yet," he says.
This is one of the busiest times of year for Arabie Trucking. The trucks now in New York would normally be hauling sugar. But Arabie says the downtime is worth it.
The drivers will rest a couple of days before making the long trip back to Louisiana.
Now, Arabie is considering the next holiday coming up. "My daughter already asked me that, what are we doing for Christmas," says Arabie. "So we'll see."
