Episode #11: Working Under Pressure

Transcript

On this episode of the Simply Brilliant show we're coming to you from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where our warehouse is. You can see it's situated right behind us and in case you haven't noticed there's a ton of snow. This episode of Simply Brilliant we're going focus on sort of community service, dedication, working under pressure and getting the job done. And so with that said, let me first introduce the fact that we've been privileged to work with was once LIPA, Long Island Power, then became National Grid and is now PSE&G and they're the utility company servicing the East End of Long Island. And we have a contract with them to be first responders during all emergency hurricane, disaster, storm related recovery. And so this past weekend as many of you know Storm Jonas blew into the east coast. It was a major storm, much bigger than anybody had thought, massive flooding in New Jersey, we hope they're okay.

The snow here in New York is now recorded as the third largest snow dump in the history of New York City since meteorological records have been recorded which I think is almost 200 years. And in Long Island where we were actually doing the disaster recovery, they had massive amounts of snow and major wind gusts. So let me tell you a little bit about what that means and what that looks like.

We had dozens of coaches and mini coaches transporting the actual people that are on the ground taking down tree limbs and getting power lines restored so that the East End of Long Island could have electric and heat and so on. And the way that that basically works is we set up staging areas where the equipment is and we take people via coach in these inclement weathers and unbelievably adverse conditions. We take them from the staging areas to where they're working and from where they're working to the hotels.

And so we were working 24 hours a day throughout the entire weekend as the storm just intensified and got worse and lingered, and the brave men and women of Brilliant Transportation servicing the East End of Long Island, which was an absolute privilege and a pleasure. I really must thank them for their dedication and their perseverance. It's not easy to go out when it's scary in white out conditions and the snow is accumulating and much less to drive people in coaches and mini buses and the like. We had a few instances where the coaches got stuck because the conditions were so bad and there was a great rescue service, and the tow truck company but we persevered through it all. We understood the greater good and we understood that the community was counting on us.

And so this is something that we really take great pride and pleasure in. As much as we love working with Fortune 500 companies and event planners and weddings and so on and making those events special and memorable, there's something particularly rewarding about helping the community and knowing that everybody around us has heat, electricity and so on in large part because we're out there braving the storm while everybody else is staying warm and safe inside and as well they should. So in any event this is a thank you to all the men and women of Brilliant Transportation, going out there and fighting adverse conditions, near white out conditions, inches turning into feet of snow, freezing cold and just really terrible conditions.

I think most of you on the East End of Long Island and in New York City in particular know just how bad it was and you probably were enjoying a fire or a blanket and a book and a glass of wine while our men and women were out there again 24 hours a day in pitch blackness. This was so bad that Governor Cuomo issued a state of emergency and closed down all of the highways and the public transportation. And Brilliant Transportation received an official letter indicating that we were critical to the human safety and to the rescue operations and that we should be allowed on closed roads.

And so we continued to operate when everybody else was banned from operating because what we were doing was so important to the safety and the well being of the greater community and that's something that we just feel incredibly honored and privileged to do and it's quite rewarding. And so with that I just want to share with you what we were up to this past weekend. As you can see behind me that's our warehouse. We have it all cleaned up and so we were coming and going and accessing it but then you can also see right behind me literally feet of snow as it's been plowed and just an unbelievable recovery effort by Brilliant Transportation on the East End of Long Island and all the snowplows and all the men and women of New York City and so on.  

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