Biddeford trucking company offers free service for pandemic response
Courtesy / Brown Dog Carriers
From left, Darrell Pardy, director of Brown Dog Carriers, Lily and the company’s president, Graig Morin.
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Brown Dog Carriers, a trucking and logistics company in Biddeford, has launched a campaign that delivers essential supplies to Mainers in need.
The “helping paw" campaign seeks to make a connection between Maine companies, organizations and individuals to deliver personal protective equipment, food or supplies or other pandemic-related goods.
“Recently, we volunteered to transport 125 folding chairs donated by Hussey Seating Co. to Southern Maine Healthcare and Maine Veterans’ Homes,” Darrell Pardy, the company’s director, said in a news release. “That got us thinking that we have both an opportunity and a responsibility to help. If we can use our equipment and experience to enable and bring attention to our community partners doing incredible things, so that they can serve more people, we’re committed to doing that.”
Graig Morin, Brown Dog Carrier's founder and president, is a career truck driver. He started Brown Dog with his wife Christine in 2017, naming it after her chocolate Lab, Lily, who travels with Morin daily.
The company hauls general freight, has about 20 employees and operates eight tractor-trailers primarily in New England, Pardy told Mainebiz.
One of the carrier's biggest customers is a grocery chain. Other major customers are in the dairy and water industries.
“One thing Graig and I have in common is a belief in supporting community,” said Pardy. “As the company grew started to grow, we were always looking for ways to give back and be a good community member.”
Brown Dog has supported a number of nonprofits and veteran service organizations, including Wreaths Across America, K9s on the Front Line, and Trucking 4 Kids.
As an essential business, Brown Dog remains busy with its regular customers, transporting food, water, fuel and other essentials, Morin said.
With the pandemic, the company looked for ways to help, said Pardy.
They got the idea to provide free transportation, for goods and services where needed in the fight against the pandemic, when Morin took a meeting with Hussey on a separate matter. He learned the North Berwick company had recently started a campaign to donate $50,000 worth of folding chairs to Maine hospitals, since waiting room volume and the number of temporary facilities were on rise, according to a post on the company's blog.
Hussey’s president and CEO, Gary Merrill, contacted Maine hospitals, encouraging them and other medical facilities in need to request the free chairs.
Morin offered to transport them at no charge.
“And that got us thinking, if we do that for Hussey, we can do that for others,” Morin continued. “We have team members who want to do this.”
Pardy said anyone who needs to get supplies or equipment shipped in the fight against COVID-19 can contact Brown Dog, which will provide the transportation free of charge. Businesses, organizations or individuals can contact Morin at 207-294-2075 or info@browndogcarriers.com
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