Home improvement chain Lowe’s has launched a Tool Rental Disaster Response Trailer to help communities recover from hurricanes, sending its first trailer to Houma, La., to help after the dramatic impact of Hurricane Ida, which hit the Gulf Coast Aug. 29.
Thousands of Lowe’s associates have been helping customers prepare and recover from Ida, and Lowe’s Emergency Command Center has been working around the clock to expedite additional emergency supplies to stores to help customers. All stores are open and serving their communities.
Lowe's has deployed the new Lowe’s Tool Rental Disaster Response Trailer to the Lowe's store in Houma, La. The trailer is operating form 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until further notice. The mobile unit is stocked with a broad assortment of tools and equipment (generators, chainsaws and fans among the items available) to repair damage they’ve sustained, and it allows Lowe’s to offer customers affordable rental options for equipment that they may only need for one-time use.
“We want to be there for our customers when they need us most, with the right rental equipment to help them rebuild their homes and communities,” said Shannon Tucker, vice president, pro. “I am grateful for the associates from our Tool Rental business that have volunteered to travel to Louisiana to staff the trailer at Lowe’s store #596 in Houma and serve our customers and associates that have been hit hard by this devastating storm.”
Lowe's hosted 14 drive-through bucket brigade events in Louisiana on Friday, September 10. Lowe’s and its disaster relief partners, including Louisiana VOAD, SBP and Reach Out WorldWide, passed out more than 7,000 free disaster relief buckets filled with cleanup supplies. Each store distributed buckets filled with goggles, respirators, sanitizer, bug spray, water, scrub brushes, bleach and work gloves.
Lowe’s supply chain teams have sent more than 1,800 trucks with emergency supplies to help the hardest-hit communities and continue to ship additional supplies to stores around the clock.
Ten Lowe’s associates who serve on the company’s Emergency Response Team deployed on September 2 from Lowe’s of South Jacksonville to help the New Orleans community recover from Hurricane Ida.
Following hurricanes, ERT associates voluntarily leave their stores and homes to help in the hardest-hit areas. They provide additional customer support and give fellow associates impacted by the hurricane a chance to focus on their families. More than 240 associates from Lowe’s stores across the South arrived in Louisiana and another 240 will deploy in mid-September. A third wave is also readying.
Lowe’s deployed its disaster relief mobile convoys to both Houma and Thibodaux, La., to help affected associates with some of their basic needs. The fleet is made up of eight total units – four shower units and four laundry units. The disaster fleet was acquired during 2020 and is currently deployed to serve associates, but eventually the company hopes to provide this as a service to the community at large as well.
Lowe’s also hosted five drive-through bucket brigade events in the Northeast – four in New Jersey and one in Staten Island, N.Y. – on September 5 to aid the region’s ongoing flood relief. Associates passed out free buckets filled with cleanup supplies.
Lowe’s hosted two additional bucket brigades in New Jersey on September 6. Including Friday’s events in Louisiana, Lowe’s has delivered nearly 12,000 disaster relief buckets to help with Ida relief in the South and along East Coast.
Lowe’s supplier partners in the relief efforts include Bosch, Husqvarna, Tsurumi, FNA- Simpson, GNE – Honda, Xpower, Metabo, Werner, VP Racing Fuels, SmartEquip, AT&T, LiveView and Point of Rental.
