Detroit Business Owner Aids Hurricane Relief Efforts

Towing Business Transporting Approximately 100,000 Pounds of Food

DETROIT, Sept. 4 -- Detroit Business Owner Gasper Fiore has put two of his towing company's trucks to work to assist the Gulf Coast region with its hurricane relief efforts.

Fiore, who operates Boulevard & Trumbull Towing in Detroit, is using his two, 45-foot trailers to haul more than 100,000 pounds of food -- donated by area residents -- that will be delivered to hurricane victims in Alabama and Mississippi. His trucks are refrigerated, and that allows for better maintenance of food.

"I wanted to come down here and try to help some people," said the 45- year-old Fiore, as he arrived in Alabama Sunday. "If we were in trouble like this, we'd like to think that others would do the same."

Fiore is part of a 15-vehicle caravan headed up by Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans that left Detroit at about 1 p.m. Saturday, September 3 to assist residents of the Gulf Coast. The group arrived in Alabama Sunday and will provide aid to residents of Mobile, before moving on to Biloxi. They expect to be there approximately one week.

Fiore of Chesterfield Township has owned and operated the towing business, which has more than 150 employees, since 1981. He and his company were recognized in 2001 with the director's award for helping the Michigan State Police's HEAT program, which fights automobile theft in Michigan.