CASS LAKE, Minn. — In late June 2025, a massive straight-line windstorm tore through Beltrami County with gusts reaching 106 mph. Over 100,000 trees were snapped or uprooted in minutes, knocking out power to thousands, including the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
For the residents of Leech Lake, the aftermath was devastating. Without electricity, families lost entire freezers of food, much of it wild game they had hunted and stored over the past year. In response, Adventist Community Services Disaster Relief (ACS DR) reached out to tribal leaders to coordinate a relief effort.
With limited volunteers and high needs, ACS DR agreed to manage donation operations out of a former casino building in Cass Lake. But logistics quickly became a major hurdle inside the warehouse.
“We needed electric pallet jacks to move shipments and supplies in the warehouse,” said Leslie Morrison, director of ACS DR operations in Minnesota. “But I also had to bring our disaster response trailer filled with cleanup kits, and I can only haul one trailer at a time with my truck.”
After a weekend spent praying and weighing options, a breakthrough came.
“I first called United Rentals. They didn’t have any electric pallet jacks available for the week we needed them. They referred me to Forklifts of Minnesota.
To my surprise, not only did Forklifts of America have electric pallet jacks available, they also offered delivery—something the others didn’t.
“It was like God opened the door right there,”
Leslie Morrison said. “They told me the cost and it was in our price range. And the charging system? Just a standard 110 outlet. It was everything we needed, exactly when we needed it.”
With two electric pallet jacks scheduled for direct delivery to the warehouse, ACS DR was able to free up the trailer hitch to haul the much-needed cleanup kits—five-gallon buckets packed with essential cleaning supplies.
“I told the company, ‘I think this might be the start of a good partnership between ACS Disaster Relief and Forklifts of America.’ And they agreed.”
The incident is one of many reminders, Leslie Morrison says, that disaster relief work is as much about faith as it is about logistics.
“When we pray, God provides—even in the small details, like electric pallet jacks with delivery.
The cleanup kits and warehouse operations are expected to eight hundred affected families in the coming weeks, and volunteers continue to step forward, answering the call to serve across Minnesota.
By Leslie Morrison, Director of Adventist Community Services Disaster Relief for the Minnesota Conference.
