John Talarski watched the recent flood wreak havoc on his High Ridge community, including endangering residents’ water supply, and he wanted to do something to help.
So, the maintenance technician at FedEx Ground, 525 Woodson Road, in St. Louis sent an email to senior manager Jeff Mack about his desire to assist the community.
“I wanted to know if we could donate water or what we could do?” Talarski said. “(Mack) took it from there. He handled the logistics from that side. He talked to corporate, and corporate approved to do it.”
The approval was for a donation of seven pallets of bottled water, which is 13,440 bottles.
FedEx delivered the water to the High Ridge Fire Protection District at noon Wednesday (May 3).
Since flooding had closed many roads, there were concerns about getting the water to the fire station, but since delivering packages is what FedEx does, employees found a way.
“We were able to get through and everything was fine,” Talarski said. “We figured it out. We always deliver packages and make our customers happy. We got the approval, and we did it.”
Talarski said firefighters were more than pleased to receive the donation because Public Water Supply District No. 2, which serves High Ridge, is under a boil water order. District No. 2 also serves Fenton, Byrnes Mill, House Springs and parts of Eureka.
“They said it was a definite need, especially with the cleanup coming up, too,” Talarski said. “The biggest thing is, I was born and raised in Jefferson County. We are a tight community out here. To have my employer actually go out of its way to help my community, I’m very proud to work at FedEx.”