A New Battle where Supply Chains are Life Lines

EXIT of the DAY:
Exit 30 I-278s: near Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn Queens Expy, Brooklyn, New York




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​Ok Road Trippers, as you drive past the old Brooklyn Navy Yard which was right beside the Brooklyn Bridge, let me take you back to the beaches of Normandy on June 6 1944, D-Day. Despite months of planning, for Americans in the first waves to get past the Nazi’s rain of death, a number one trait which gave Americans the edge was the individual soldier’s own ability to take the initiative and to innovate.


In so-called “after-action” reports, military analysts and later historians credit the natural tendency for citizens raised in a free democracy to think outside the box — to try things that soldiers from more dictatorial societies would simply not consider. In general, Nazis and other soldiers from dictatorships are taught to just follow orders.  Americans are taught to take the initiative and to improvise.   One example was that Americans used their chewing gum to adhere mirrors to gun barrels to see around corners. A broader example was to encounter an unanticipated obstacle away from the chain of command, and then to take the initiative to continue over or around it.  On the Nazi side, such obstacles would have left the common foot soldier awaiting his superiors’ orders. ​ 

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In the era of COVID, Americans needed to re-think everything. Faced with the Federal Government playing a supporting role, governors and municipalities created interstate supply chains to trade ventilators, and medical supplies.  When the coronavirus ebbs in one state, that state would send resources to the next state facing a swell of illness. ​

Small innovators in Logistics and Supply Chain stepped up to the task of marshaling resources.  Small entrepreneurs repurpose their businesses to bring support to the frontline.  In  Manhattan’s trendy Garment District, Stephanie Benedetto’s company, Queen of Raw, has the catchy logo of “Turning Pollution into Profit”.  As featured on GOOD MORNING AMERICA and NPR,  Queen Of Raw created a virtual market to take unused fabric from the garment trade and re-sell it instead of discard it as waste.  Now Queen of Raw sources scraps and remnants of fabric from fashion brands to make Protective Personal Equipment(PPE) and life-saving masks. ​

Meanwhile in San Diego, former Naval Aviator Jaden Risner created a company called Family Proud. Imagine being alone but having all your friends and caregivers on one platform, on your iPhone, in your pocket?  According to the website, "Family Proud" is an internet platform “Created by Patients and Advocates for Patients and Advocates”.  Ranging from cancer patients to PTSD victims, the app creates a hub to connect caregivers, patients, friends, and family into a community of support.  In the era of Corona Lockdown, this community app became more essential than ever.    ​

In the midst of an unprecedented  pandemic, while the broader news may seem grim, in small ways and with huge hearts, America’s innovators conceived new ways to fight the battle.  It was true on the beaches of Normandy, just as it is true on the streets of our greatest cities and smallest towns.  And like 1944, the battles may rage today — but the war will be won.


#supplychain #Supplychainandlogistics #QueenofRaw #FamilyProud #DDay #CoronaVirus #CoronavirusandDDay #Pandemic #PandemicandSupplyChain #Roadtripper #afteractionreports   
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Origin Story for Evangelical Christians in America.  

Hear this Here:

Exit 67 in GA I-95n To: US 17, Coastal Hwy, to S Newport, near Riceboro, GA


In the woods to the right is a church that claims to be the smallest in America. It’s just beyond the El Cheapo Diner there.
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​Speaking of churches, in the 1730’s,  the father of Evangelical Christianity found inspiration in the wilds of Georgia.  The Founder of the Methodist Faith, John Wesley’s life is the subject of nearly 400 biographies. But you will be hard-pressed to find anyone more knowledgeable than Reverend Dave Hanson about Wesley’s short time in Georgia especially his stint doing missionary work in the Sea Islands.


Says Reverend Hanson,  “John Wesley had a miserable time here.”

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​When John Wesley set sail from England to the Debtor’s Colony of Georgia, the future Evangelical was a man of quiet faith. Prior to Georgia, Wesley’s sermons were weary affairs, eliciting little more than yawns.

​But then he got here  and he fell in love. And that passion — un-sated it turns out -- may have impassioned him for inspiring speeches later in life.


Much of his New World troubles occurred on Saint Simons Island. There the Anglican minister wound up in the wrong corner of a love triangle.

Ironically, one of Wesley’s stated intentions in coming to the wilderness was to avoid temptations of the flesh. But Wesley soon found himself bewitched by one Sophie Hopkey, a fetching young Georgia Peach of just 18.  But the 32-year-old Wesley was slow to move.  A  local smooth talker moved in and stole Sophie’s heart.


The lovelorn Wesley sought revenge by refusing communion to Sophie. In response, an arrest warrant was taken out charging Wesley with public embarrassment by banning Sophie from communion.


Wesley hightailed it back to Savannah where he jumped ship back to England. On the voyage, the ship sailed through storm after storm.  He prayed and prayed and seemed to find solace in the chaos of the malestrom which, as Reverend Dave Hanson says, "The Dramatic effects he began to seize upon to heighten the engagement of his bored parishners."

As in Georgia, a key aspect of Wesley's ministry was to preach outdoors. He recognized the open-air services were successful in reaching poor folks. They were uncomfortable entering the middle class tidiness of most Anglican churches.  Wesley travelled ceaselessly throughout the British Isles.  His message resonated with the lower rungs of society. ​

Soon the poor gathered in the thousands at large outdoor venues to hear the rejuvenated preacher spread his passionate message.  “He was the Billy Graham of his day,” Hanson says. ​

All in all, despite his movement’s huge success in today’s United States, the man who would lay the foundation for Evangelicals was all too happy to leave America far behind.


So why not get off the next exit and check out the nation’s smallest church?  It may not be Evangelical, but it is non-denominational. So like John Wesley,  it welcomes everyone!          


#JohnWesley #Methodist #Evangelicals #BillyGraham #Easter #OutdoorMass ​

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