Lifelong trucker Gary Strong has hauled a load or two in his day.

He's traveled nearly every road and crisscrossed the country too many times to count. But no load is more important than the one Strong dropped off near the Houston Astrodome Sunday afternoon, he said.

Strong hauled 40,000 pounds of nutrition bars, energy drinks and water from the Utah Food Bank to the stranded evacuees at the Astrodome.

"I was just overwhelmed," said the driver. "They just kept thanking me and couldn't believe we came all the way from Utah."

It took about two days to drive from the Utah Food Bank's Salt Lake headquarters to Houston. Throughout the drive, well-wishers pulled alongside Strong's truck and waved or gave a thumbs up, thanking the American Fork man for bringing help to those who desperately need it.

"I can't even imagine losing everything," Strong said as he fought back the tears. "They have nothing."

Strong, 65, struggled to describe his feelings of witnessing the pain of the thousands of people who have sought refuge in Houston.

"The sight," Strong said, then paused as he gathered his emotions. "You see someone with a little plastic bag, and that's all they got. That's their life, you know? It's something I'll never forget. The look in those people's eyes. The vacant stares."

Director Chad Groesbeck said the Utah Food Bank shipped 57,000 pounds of food and water to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Of that, the food bank sent 12,000 pounds of goods to Camp Williams to feed the evacuees housed there.

The best way to help Hurricane Katrina's victims is to donate money, Groesbeck said. Getting money to victims is easier than sorting, shipping and distributing collected food donations, he said.

However, anyone interested in donating nonperishable food products, baby food, diapers and hygiene products should drop them off at the Utah Food Bank, 1025 S. 700 West in Salt Lake City, or at any Harmon's Grocery Store. For information on hosting a local food drive, visit www.utahfoodbank.org.

The Utah Food Bank will likely send two additional trucks with 40,000 pounds of goods each to either Texas or Louisiana later this week, Groesbeck said.

Strong said he would quickly volunteer to haul one of those loads. "I would go back in a minute," Young said. "They surely need it."

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com