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Talk of the bay
TECO camaraderie helps ease losses from Hurricane Katrina
By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published November 14, 2005
Workers at TECO Energy in Tampa are doing their bit to help fellow employees at the company's bulk terminal south of New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina. The storm wiped out just about everything the work force of 155 owned. Their homes were washed off their foundations and crumpled around power poles, or sit perched on levees. Their belongings - everything from teddy bears to bowling balls - are strewn for miles across the marshy delta.
In Tampa, TECO workers raised more than $200,000 (aided by a company match), and workers are holding occasional bake sales to raise more cash. And at the terminal in Davant, about 11/2 hours' drive from New Orleans, shipping containers hold clothing and toy donations from the Tampa contingent.
A tiny pink bike with training wheels was lined up outside one container recently, and hand-written signs on the containers indicated which ones held men's clothing and where to find women's and children's.
Still, many of the Louisiana workers are strapping big fellows and have had one modest complaint.
Searching through the piles of clothing and coming up empty-handed, one guy turned to Rod Palmer, the man in charge of bringing the Davant terminal back on line, and said: "Don't you have any big men in Tampa?"
[Last modified November 10, 2005, 21:52:02]
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