Martin Marietta’s East, Southwest Teams help hurricane victims

2024 brought major weather events, including back-to-back hurricanes

In late September, Hurricane Helene hit the Southeastern United States, becoming the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since 2017 and the most fatal to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The storm caused widespread destruction to the western region of North Carolina. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton, a destructive tropical cyclone that became the second-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, greatly affected Florida’s west coast.

Operations in multiple divisions were hit hard by these storms. But through the devastation, several ONE team members came together to help those in need.

In the East Division, a preplanned community day quickly and efficiently became a much larger relief effort. North Carolina’s Hickory Quarry was already partnering with the Salvation Army and the Hickory Soup Kitchen to gather canned food for the local community. Seeing the need to do more, organizers transformed the event, turning the quarry into a central collection point for diapers and canned food items donated by employees across North Carolina and elsewhere. More than 15 pallets arrived just in time for the event, and neighbors brought additional donations to supplement the aid effort.

Along with these much-needed donations, the East Division made major contributions to organizations across the affected Hurricane Helene footprint, including the Black Mountain Home for Children, a charity in western North Carolina that serves the foster care system. It houses more than 170 children and helps prepare them for adulthood through real-world job and trade training.

Loretta Shelton, vice president of development and community relations for the charity, expressed the organization’s gratitude. “Our support base is the people around us, and they have literally been washed away,” Shelton said. “We’ve really been just trying to have faith that folks like Martin Marietta will step up to allow us to continue to care for the youth that need us, as well as allow us to rebuild the programs that mean so much to their futures.”

In addition to this, donations of $20,000 each were made to the Golden Harvest Food Bank in Augusta, Georgia, and Harvest Hope Food Bank in Columbia, South Carolina, as well as a significant contribution to the Salvation Army of Hickory, North Carolina. Moreso, to help with ongoing repair and relief efforts, the East Division also donated $63,000 in material to Samaritan’s Purse, an organization that provides aid to people in need as a key part of its Christian missionary work. The cumulative impact of the donations was felt throughout the region. “We talk about being ONE team here at Martin Marietta, and this is showing it in action,” Greensboro

General Manager Adam Thompson said. “When you see something like this come together – all these pallets of food, diapers and supplies, it just shows me what our culture is about.”

In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in Florida, Martin Marietta’s Tampa Yard supplied aggregates to aid in restoration efforts for local businesses. After the storm hit Florida’s West Coast, Joe Valdez, territory manager with T. Disney Trucking and Grading, Inc., and his team were looking for supplies as quickly as possible. Valdez knew he needed a reliable source to ensure quality, readily available aggregate in this time of crisis, so he called Jim Dombroski, area sales manager for Martin Marietta’s Central Florida Terminals. “Jim answered my call right away on the weekend after the storm; he always answers,” Valdez said.

After both checked with Jimmie Watson Jr., the sales yard manager for Martin Marietta’s West Florida Yards, the team opened on a Sunday morning, the day after the storm cleared out. “What stood out, along with his quick response, was the willingness of Martin Marietta’s employees to work on their day off to assist the relief efforts,” Valdez said.

And the opportunity to help was a powerful feeling for all. “It’s a great feeling to work for an organization like Martin Marietta, which is willing to extend itself in these types of circumstances for the benefit of the community,” Dombroski said. “Getting lives back to as normal as possible is the paramount concern after a storm event, and to know our ONE team aided in that effort is beyond gratifying.” Watson said he and the team were happy to support the communities’ restoration efforts as best they could by staying open for business. Using a generator to run the scale house and print tickets, the team was able to load 75 trucks for a total of 4,500 tons of material. “It is a pleasure to be part of helping the community when it is in need,” Watson said. “Being with a company that has the resources to be able to help means so much to all of us.”

In Martin Marietta’s Southwest Division, Area Manager Jeri Evans says teams collected pallets of various Hurricane Milton relief items from Tyler, Texas, to send to their neighboring states. “We shipped seven pallets of supplies, including four generators, five chainsaws, extension cords, brooms, mops, coolers, paper towels, toilet paper, gas cans, trash liners, 5-gallon buckets, flashlights, floor squeegees and phone chargers,” Evans said. “We are happy to contribute to the relief efforts, and we thought there was no better way than to band together to send support to our teammates.”

In response to the storms, the East Division began seeking volunteers to assist with expanded plant operations in East Tennessee. Numerous positions became available, including haul truck drivers, equipment operators, primary operators, utility/maintenance and supervisor/lead person/foreman positions for both long-term and short-term work. The response was tremendous with approximately 225 team members signing up.

“This turnout has been a great reflection of the strength of our commitment and the enthusiasm to lend a hand in these challenging times,” said East Division Vice President of HR Curt Neth. “This response has been inspiring, and I know many of our team members share the eagerness to be part of the solution.” Contractors working in the area have predicted a rise in demand in the new year, which could lead to more volunteers needed to begin work at a new, currently idle operation site.