Danica’s Spirit Inspired Rocky Caylor

People can do amazing things to help other people.

Rocky Caylor, candidate for Naperville Mayor, was reflecting on last year’s Hurricane Florence relief efforts and remembered Danica Ward, who was only 10 years old when she organized a neighborhood collection drive of relief supplies for people impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

This was in September 2017, within days of the storm dropping record rain on the Houston area, causing unprecedented flooding. The city of Joliet had partnered with Cadence Premier Logistics, Rocky’s company that is located south of Joliet, to organize a relief mission. The city set up a collection point, and Rocky’s company was to provide the transportation.

At her Crest Hill home, Danica told her mom that she wanted to help. She and her mother set about spreading flyers and posting on her mother’s Facebook page. Danica went door to door collecting bottled water and other supplies. When Danica and her mother arrived at the Joliet collection point with two filled vehicles, interim city manager Marty Shanahan was amazed.

Soon afterwards, Rocky invited Danica and her parents to Cadence Premier’s warehouse, to give Danica a tour the operations so that she could see all the supplies being loaded, and to thank her personally.

Rocky now emphasizes, “we received no FEMA or other government funding to haul those supplies. Cadence Premier and the Illinois Trucking Foundation, under my leadership, consolidated loads from the citizens from across the state. Cadence Premier and 2 companies in south and central Illinois transported over 50 trailer loads of supplies to Houston’s people in need. It was just people helping people.”

Looking back, Rocky says, “I was so blessed to meet Danica, she was inspired to help others and in turn inspired the rest of us to support her efforts. She was a young girl with a big heart, I’m glad to have had a part in encouraging her to give to others in need. The world needs more of that.”

See the 2017 story at https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/child-donates-joliets-hurricane-harvey-site.

For more information about Rocky’s history organizing relief missions, visit www.rockyformayor.com.