Mark Steele, manager of R + L Carriers, unloads pallets of cleaning supplies donated by the AEP Mountaineer Power Plant. Also pictured (on truck) is Bill “Sport” Roush of Mountaineer’s maintenance department who brought the supplies from Mountaineer and Steve Halstead of the Bend Area who is a volunteer in the relief effort for sister city, Point Pleasant, N.J.

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POINT PLEASANT — Over 16,000 pounds of supplies has departed Point Pleasant, W.Va. for Point Pleasant, N.J. after a community-wide effort to collect donations for Superstorm Sandy victims.

A tractor trailer owned by R+L Carriers left with the supplies on Monday night and is set to arrive at its destination in New Jersey on Wednesday. It’s traveling with other freight to Youngstown, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pa. prior to arriving in the Garden State.

Representatives from Point Pleasant, W.Va. who are traveling to meet the supplies at their final destination are relief organizers Darlene Haer, Rev. James Lawson, Paul Nichols and Sherry Wallbrown. Haer said the caravan is leaving on Tuesday to meet the tractor trailer on Wednesday at Church of the Visitation in Point Pleasant, N.J.

Haer said in addition to the supplies, $3,600 in monetary donations will be given to hurricane relief efforts in the area. Haer explained the supplies and money are desperately needed and she hopes it goes to all those who need help, including those who don’t otherwise meet income guidelines to receive assistance from other agencies.

Those who helped organize the local relief effort for sister city Point Pleasant, N.J., called the community’s turnout “impressive.” Haer said it truly was a “community effort” of businesses, individuals and organizations turning the idea to help into a reality.

Of course, the community’s response stretched far beyond Point Pleasant and out into the county. Steve Halstead of the Bend Area, who also helped facilitate the relief effort, agreed with Haer, saying individuals, businesses and organizations helped make the drive successful.

Halstead recently accompanied Bill “Sport” Roush of American Electric Power’s Mountaineer Plant in New Haven to R+L where over a dozen pallets of supplies were dropped off for shipment from the plant. In all, there are 35 pallets of donations going to New Jersey.

Due to the excessive amount of donations, organizers of the relief effort had to use some funds to pay to transport the goods at a reduced cost, but again, even after that expense, $3,600 will be going to a relief fund in the Point Pleasant, N.J. area.

Though R+L Carriers is delivering the goods, Stover Trucking donated a tractor trailer to store the materials before shipping.

Haer said those traveling to New Jersey will return with an update for the community on how the trip went — this update will be published in an upcoming edition of the Point Pleasant Register.