Columnist Jeff German: Cab company offers hope in New Orleans

Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 | 11:19 a.m.

Like many Nevadans, Bill Shranko has gotten caught up in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Shranko, operations manager for taxicab conglomerate Yellow Checker Star, is heading a "disaster relocation team," sponsored by his company, in Houston.

The team, which has been spending time all week at the Houston Astrodome and the George R. Brown Convention Center, has something valuable to offer the Katrina survivors -- a job and a chance to start a new life.

Some 4,000 New Orleans cabbies are said to be out of work in the aftermath of the hurricane, and Shranko estimates that Southern Nevada's busy taxicab industry could use another 1,500 drivers.

Shranko has been passing out fliers among the mass of survivors in Houston, informing them that jobs could be waiting at Yellow Checker Star or elsewhere in the cab industry here.

His company, with the help of FEMA and local charities, is helping survivors get to Las Vegas and find temporary housing here. And if they have no experience as a cabbie, Yellow Checker Star has promised to train them.

But this has become more than just a recruitment mission for the taxicab giant.

Shranko and his local crew, Yellow Checker Star supervisors Don Chalmers and Mike Bailin, also have become humanitarians in Houston. They are volunteers in "Operation Compassion," a massive relief effort organized by Houston area churches.

"Americans by the thousands are aiding this town, which has been overwhelmed by 300,000 evacuees from the hurricane-devastated Gulf region," Shranko said in a hand-written fax from Houston Wednesday following his first day in the relief effort.

"You immediately get the feeling that this is an unstoppable army of volunteers swelling by the thousands and that nothing is going to prevent them from turning this disaster into a beacon of hope."

While they've been spreading the word about the benefits of relocating to Las Vegas, Shranko and company also have been comforting survivors and handing out food and water to them, sometimes until 4 a.m, as part of "Operation Compassion."

Shranko's spirits remained high on Thursday.

"You sense that the organization is getting better each day as Houston gets a feel for what needs to be accomplished." he wrote in a fax.

Later, in a cell phone conversation, he added: "This is the best experience of my life. I know it's the right thing to do."

Shranko said he has gotten little sleep and frequently has had to fight back tears when listening to the plights of the hurricane survivors.

The sadness around him, he said, has made him determined to make the future brighter for as many victims as he can.

"We're letting them know that they have options," he said. "We have the resources in Las Vegas, and there's no reason not to be helping them."

By the time Shranko and his team leave Houston on Monday morning, they hope to arrange for the relocation of 1,000 people to Las Vegas.

If they succeed, it will give others in Las Vegas a chance to participate in their humanitarian effort.

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