South Carolina Town to Send Supplies to Somerville Friday

Summerville, South Carolina, firefighters lined up in a brigade Tuesday evening slinging bottled water, baby food, blankets and other emergency supplies to fill up a Penske truck destined for Somerville, N.J.

The truck and two firefighters begin the trek to Somerville Friday. The truck is laden with supplies donated by Summerville citizens to help N.J. residents recover from Hurricane Sandy. Wednesday, supplies from the City of North Charleston are expected to join boxes and bags already loaded. 

Watch Summerville firefighters load the truck with donated supplies in the above video.

Originally destined to help the citizens of Somerville, relief will likely be sent on to more dire parts of the state, using the New Jersey borough as a hub, according to the mayor of Summerville, South Carolina. Mayor Bill Collins said Somerville, Mass., is also joining in the relief effort.

"(Somerville, N.J., was) hurt by Sandy and the storm that accompanied it but not devastated," Collins said. 

The N.J. borough came to Summerville's aid in 1989 post Hurricane Hugo, bringing down two trucks of supplies and donations to help the striken town recover. Collins was the owner of the Summerville Journal Scene at the time.

Collins was first contacted by the publisher of a Somerville newspaper after Hugo to help establish relief efforts. .

The town has been collecting supplies at the five fire stations for the last few weeks, donations wrapped up last Friday.