Tucker Carlson interviews Gary MacLaughlin on MSNBC

September 7th, 2005 CARLSON: The suffering all along the Gulf Coast has brought out the very best in many Americans, who donated money and supplies and in some cases taken disaster relief into their own hands and thank God they did. One of those selfless people is Gary MacLaughlin of Santa Cruz, California. He joins us now on the telephone with his amazing story. Mr. MacLaughlin, thanks for joining us. GARY MACLAUGHLIN: Thank you. CARLSON: What happened? What moved you to act and what did you do? MACLAUGHLIN: Well, first I want to thank you, Tucker, for taking an interest in our story that we're doing down here. I really do appreciate that. CARLSON: Of course. MACLAUGHLIN: Because there's a whole group down here of people just like me who took it on themselves to come down here and try to help and that's really an exciting story. CARLSON: Well, we spent a lot of time reporting on some of the lower moments where this storm brought out the worst in people and its just really nice to be reminded that it had the opposite effect on people like you, so tell us what you did. MACLAUGHLIN: Well, it was for me too because that's exactly my experience down here. What I've seen is the absolute best in people every step of the way. I got this idea back on Thursday morning watching the news in my bathroom and of course broken hearted like the rest of us, looking at the spectacle of humanity at the absolute limit of its tolerance to this miserable situation. And, I was frustrated just like anybody else and everyone else watching that. Why can't they do something? Why can't somebody get in there? And, I tend to be an impulsive guy and sometimes that works for me and sometimes it doesn't. In this case it worked (INAUDIBLE). CARLSON: What did it lead you to do this time? MACLAUGHLIN: Well, my impulse was that I thought I might be able to contact some friends of mine who are in southern Tennessee and operate a non-profit governmental organization called Plenty. It's a relief organization that's been in existence for about 25 years, almost 30 years now. And they provided assistance to, you know, down in Central America in nutrition programs. They did disaster relief back in the early '60s and '70s and I knew I could call them and find out what they were doing and what resources they had. I knew that I could go to Nashville and I went on the Internet and found a bus company that was willing to sell me a bus and they were some of the finest people I've ever met. They told me they had a bus there for $1,500 that was running and would do the job for me. They said they couldn't guarantee it but it was a good bus. And, if I flew into Nashville, they would come and pick me up as if I was buying a fleet of them and they brought me up to their company and they fixed up this bus for me and made sure that it was all ready to go, serviced and out the door. By Friday afternoon I was on the road towards the south. CARLSON: So, where did you go and what did you do? MACLAUGHLIN: Well, I stopped at the Plenty headquarters first down in Summertown, Tennessee and I met the folks down there. They got excited about this idea. I hadn't talked to them in almost 30 years. I'd left their situation and moved away and got involved in other things and hadn't been in contact but I knew I could contact them and I did. And they said, "Yes, come on down. That's a great idea. We'll help you." And, so I showed up down there and they were ready and I stopped on my way down at Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart folks were overwhelmed with people that were coming in just like me and loading up vehicles, Mexican Merchants Association of Nashville. There they were. They had their U-Hauls that they went and rented. They're just like me. CARLSON: So, you stopped at Wal-Mart and bought a huge amount of water and diapers and granola bars and all that and then where did you take them? MACLAUGHLIN: Well, I took it down, I put them in the bus and headed south to pick up whoever wanted to go with me. I needed some help. I wasn't going to go down there by myself and I stopped and we dealt with communications that we'd already had for pleas for help and we talked with other community members there that were involved in the Plenty organization and we developed our game plan of taking the supplies to a location that had already contacted us. My wife had done some phone arrangements when I left. She was talking on the phone to the Red Cross and to relief organizations that were working in the area already and asking them what their needs were. CARLSON: That's amazing. So, you brought... MACLAUGHLIN: It is amazing. It was amazing cost and it was, it was something that just happened. We were going about our lives trying to make it out in Santa Cruz, California and we had good lives but... CARLSON: But the beauty of it is, Gary that it didn't just happen. You made it happen and when so many people didn't do that, by so many people I mean people who worked for the government, state, federal and local didn't do it you did. You got off your duff, got on a plane, bought a bus, went to Wal-Mart, got the needed supplies and brought them to people who needed them and for that we are grateful and so is America. Thanks for joining us. MACLAUGHLIN: Well, you know, and I want to say something about those folks down there because I am bonded with National Guard troops, with New York Police Department who showed up last night in the most beautiful convoy you've ever seen and the other people who were down there, the New Orleans cops that are all working just as hard as they can. They're pushed to their limits. CARLSON: Yes. MACLAUGHLIN: They're doing everything that they can and there's other groups in there that are helping them and we were able to get in there and even help more folks who were kind of at the bottom of the list or overlooked or whatever and we just drove around and we... CARLSON: Good for you. Good for you. MACLAUGHLIN: Yes, gave people a cold drink of water. CARLSON: All right. MACLAUGHLIN: To see the look of gratitude in a man's eyes when you give him a cold drink of water in a situation like that has got to be the best experience of my life. CARLSON: Well, Gary MacLaughlin, thanks a lot for joining use. I appreciate everything you've done. MACLAUGHLIN: Thank you. Thank you, Carlson, for your interest. We really appreciate it. CARLSON: Thanks. MACLAUGHLIN: OK, bye-bye.