Organizations still stepping up to help tornado victims

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Tornadoes in Oklahoma -- particularly the EF-5 tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma last week happened hundreds of miles away, but that isn't stopping people in Wisconsin from doing what they can to help the victims.

A semi arrived on Wednesday, May 29th near Mixx Nightclub on Barclay Street in Milwaukee. The goal is to fill it with goods for those in need in Oklahoma.

"I didn`t realize it was so big until it got here.  It`s a 53-footer, but I think we`re going to come close to filling it. We`ve got a lot of donations," Organizer Pat James said.

James is one of the organizers of the Oklahoma tornado relief effort. They're hoping area organizations and churches who want to send items to Oklahoma and avoid the cost of getting them there will think of this as a community truck.

"Maybe we could haul some of their donations down also. They can box them up, put who they`re from and we`ll deliver them," James said.

Donations can include water, clean and gently-used clothing, toys, non-perishable food items, personal items, etc.

"These people lost everything. They have nothing," James said.

This semi hits the road on June 8th, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin had a truck pull out on Wednesday morning, May 29th.

"We`ve got about 19,000 pound of water. I think there are 900 cases of water going down," Gina Styer with Feeding America said.

On Friday, Feeding America will send a truck load of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is part of a network of food banks that respond to the needs of one another in times of disaster relief.

"Of course, bottled water always rises to the top in terms of what`s needed. We knew that we had some of that product here in our inventory that we could share and we could send down to support the regional food bank of Oklahoma," Styer said.

Additionally, there are several restaurants that are taking donations to be sent to Oklahoma. The truck and driver are being donated by Complete Heat Treating, but cash donations will help pay for the fuel.

CLICK HERE for more information on businesses offering tornado relief