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Joslyn Monsivais, an EquipmentShare territory account manager in San Angelo, Texas, was hosting an Independence Day pool party on the afternoon of July 4 when she got an urgent call. News was starting to spread about that morning’s devastating flooding on the Guadalupe River, and one of her customers was preparing to head 150 miles southeast to help with the rescue and recovery efforts.
“He said, ‘We’re headed to Kerrville. Do you have any light plants we can take?’” Monsivais said. “My brother was our rental coordinator on call that weekend, and he was sitting right next to me in the pool. I said, ‘Hey, do we have light plants?’”
Her brother, Jacoby Nunez, dried off and headed to the branch to get eight light plants ready for pickup. Before Monsivais even got out of the pool, she called San Angelo General Manager Eli Eyzaguirre, who readily agreed that the branch should do everything possible to help and not charge for rentals used in relief efforts.
With that, the party was over. It was time to get to work.
Team effort
EquipmentShare is serious about its pledge to give back to the communities it calls home. When major natural disasters strike, EquipmentShare quickly mobilizes its disaster response team, which coordinates with key employees in the affected area to come up with a plan to help.
In the days and weeks after the Texas floods, a wide-ranging group of EquipmentShare team members — from the San Angelo branch to corporate headquarters in Missouri and beyond — worked together to contribute to relief efforts in Texas Hill Country, where at least 135 people lost their lives in the floods.
Monsivais kept in touch with the customer that had sent a team to the Guadalupe River to remove debris and search for lost people. She also asked government officials, local church leaders and volunteers what they needed. She passed that information on to Eyzaguirre and District Manager Logan Williams, who communicated with EquipmentShare leaders at corporate headquarters to arrange for donated equipment and supplies.
“She was a huge help,” Williams said of Monsivais. “With all her contacts, she started networking to figure out what we needed to do.”
- EquipmentShare donated the use of three large excavators with thumb attachments — which were sourced from branches across the country and delivered to Texas within a few days — to remove debris and vehicles and help in recovery efforts.
- It partnered with JLG Equipment to provide a telehandler for relief workers to use.
- EquipmentShare gave out hundreds of PPE items — safety glasses, hard hats, vests and snake gaiters — for relief workers.
- Chef Craig Hindelang and his culinary team arrived on July 22 in EquipmentShare’s refrigerated disaster response semi and began cooking and serving meals at the Doyle Community Center. In four days, they served more than 4,200 meals.
- GM Shawn Young and the Austin Core Solutions branch donated toiletries to a local church, which delivered them to Kerrville.
- Volunteers from across Texas helped serve meals. They included Director of Operations, Optimization and Strategy Jim Nugent of Dallas; GM Matthew Buske of Odessa; and TAM Shaun Short of Houston, who is also a member of EquipmentShare’s new Field Ambassador Program.
“The impact EquipmentShare made helping people of all ages and backgrounds was very much appreciated,” Nugent said. “We saw it from first-responders, from volunteers at the Doyle Community Center and from folks and kids who just needed a hot meal. I walked out of this experience feeling grateful and proud to be a part of a company that goes the extra mile to take care of communities when they need it most.”
Somber scenes
Williams, Ezaguirre and Monsivais were awed and saddened by the destruction they saw along the Guadalupe River. Huge trees were snapped in half, a car was lodged in a tree, a bus was buried under 3 feet of mud.
“The videos and pictures don’t do justice to what really happened,” Eyzaguirre said. “Just looking at the trees and how high the water levels were, the houses and properties that were destroyed, it was really bad.”
The only consolation was they were able to join other team members from EquipmentShare and countless volunteers who came together in the Texas heat to help their neighbors and support the families who lost loved ones.
“That river, for so many of us, had held nothing but amazing memories,” Monsivais said. “Now there’s a completely different emotion for everybody down there, and it’s one of sadness, tragedy and loss.
“I hate that all this happened, but I am glad I was able to be a small part of the effort to help with the recovery.”
