DETROIT ? The Detroit Regional Chamber sent on Monday a recreational vehicle, outfitted as a mobile office with 15 workstations, to the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce to help businesses that were victims of Hurricane Katrina get back on their feet.
Jim Watry, founder and president of Oxford, Michigan-based Nucleus, along with Hans Erickson, CIO for the Detroit Regional Chamber, will deliver an RV equipped with two, two-way satellite systems to Gulfport, Mississippi, on Wednesday. The satellites will provide Internet and email as well as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services.
?Many of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber?s members are small businesses, and small businesses represent 60-80 percent of net job growth across the nation,? said Richard E. Blouse Jr., CCE, President and CEO, Detroit Regional Chamber. ?Our economy depends on doing whatever it takes to get those businesses up and running as quickly as possible. We think this is one of the best ways we can help accomplish that goal.?
Berinda Logan, Executive Vice President of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber, said the region is still experiencing a communications problem.
?That?s been our biggest challenge ? trying to get critical information to businesses that may need assistance quickly,?? Logan said. ?This mobile office and communications center will be the perfect solution for that need.?
The RV is being customized to handle 15 workstations within its livable space and is handicap accessible. Each fully equipped office station will be available for use by small businesses in the Mississippi Gulf region. These offices will include everything from computers (contributed by Paul Moore from The IMIH Group LLC in Wixom) to fax machines and paper shredders.
Along with delivering the communications equipment, Watry, Erickson and Moore will remain in the region for a full week to train local business people on using the technology and offer support to them as they reconstruct all that was lost. The mobile office is 100 percent self-sufficient with an onboard generator and 150-gallon fresh water tank.
Watry is organizing efforts to send further mobile offices to the area upon his return from the initial trip. In addition to Nucleus and The IMIH Group LLC, other Chamber members and partner organizations supporting this project include Acro Service Corp., Al Long Ford, Albin Business Centers, American Arab Chamber of Commerce, Automation Alley, Booker T. Washington Business Association, Cingular Wireless, Detroit Black Chamber, GraphiColor, Lawrence Technological University, Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Microsoft, Mort Crim Communications, Office Depot, The Ritz-Carlton, Dearborn, SBC Michigan, Secure-24 Inc., Taktix Solutions, Tener Technologies LLC and Verizon Wireless.
