Convoy Rolls on Mission of Mercy : Disaster: FAA employees in Palmdale and a trucking executive team up to put three trucks on the road to Florida with supplies for victims of hurricane.

Three truckloads of supplies for Florida hurricane victims boomed out of an Air Force facility in the Antelope Valley Tuesday night and rolled east into the dark on the start of a nonstop, 60-hour mercy mission.

The relief convoy, kicked off by Federal Aviation Administration employees and boosted by military and civilian personnel at Air Force Plant 42, was forced to use trucks when the Pentagon said it could not spare any cargo planes.

Even the truck alternative almost fell through at the last moment, but was put into gear by a Good Samaritan trucking executive.

Workers at Plant 42, an assembly and flight test facility in Palmdale, and other volunteers spent Tuesday loading the three 18-wheelers with about 135,000 pounds of supplies--worth an estimated $1 million--for victims of Hurricane Andrew. The shipment included water, food, clothing, furniture, sun screen, baby formula and stuffed animals.

The five-driver convoy planned to remain on the road for three days straight, making only four hourlong stops for gas and food as they haul across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and into Florida.

The lead truck, a black Peterbilt named “Black Beauty,” pulled out of the Air Force facility at 7 p.m., driven by the husband-and-wife team of Henry and Clarice Givens of Miami, with their poodle Smokey.

“It’s a good feeling knowing we’re doing something for somebody,” said Clarice Givens, who experienced the hurricane herself. “It’s total chaos down there, devastation.”

“If you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, you have no idea what it’s like,” her husband said.

Behind them came “Sugar,” driven by another married team, James and Frieda Goins of Morristown, Tenn., and “Red Man,” driven by Mike Wyman of Calhoun, Ga.

“We know that these people need this cargo,” James Goins said. “This is a special load since we’re taking something that the people need.”

Late Tuesday night the three jam-packed trucks passed weight tests on the state scales at Banning, to the relief of the drivers, and headed east on Interstate 10 for Blythe.

The relief effort began more than a week ago when employees in the the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center in Palmdale received a fax saying fellow FAA officials and their families in Miami desperately needed help.

Anthia Huff, 33, a controller trainee who has worked for the FAA for a little more than a year, called radio and television stations and school districts, soliciting help.

It arrived.

“The people in this area really came through,” Huff said. “They were coming with cases of stuff straight from Costco. It was a beautiful sight.”

Organizers had originally hoped to fly the goods to hurricane victims, but after a lengthy inquiry, they were informed by the Pentagon that no military planes were available.

They were rescued by Daryl Godwin, president of Draker Air Support, a Los Angeles trucking company. Godwin tried to get truckers to donate their services, but the volunteers he lined up backed out at 3 a.m. Tuesday, he said. So he hired five drivers.

“I got on the horn at 4 a.m. and the first truck showed up at 11 a.m.,” Godwin said.

Godwin, who started his trucking business a year and a half ago, said he just wanted to do something nice for the people of Miami.

“I haven’t felt this good in a long, long time,” Godwin said. “My heart goes out to the people of Southern Florida. They had normal lives one day and nothing the next.” The relief supplies also included pet food.

“The animals were not forgotten,” Huff said.

Volunteers such as Mike Johnston, an air traffic manager, finished loading the last truck by 6:30 p.m.

“This whole thing kind of just blew up like an atomic bomb,” Johnston said. “I’ve answered at least 500 phone calls. It seems everyone is concerned.”

The supplies are scheduled to arrive at Tamiami Airport on Friday morning, where they will be taken over by FAA officials.

“We know exactly what’s happening to our stuff,” Huff said. “There’s so much stuff stockpiled in warehouses--but not ours. It’s going to be unloaded, sorted and brought right out to the people.”