was drinking water.
“I was delivering pallets of water,”
he said incredulously. “People
were buying cases and cases of
water.”
Not every delivery has been
easy, especially with rioting
incidents flaring up in parts of
Chicago.
“I believe with the panic buying
and hoarding, we had to make
more deliveries,” he said. “But
with the rioting, it has slowed
down and some people have
turned away deliveries.”
As an essential worker, Norat
said he feels appreciated by
McLane’s and customers who
have seen him making deliveries
at stores and personally thanked
him.
“My job has catered to the drivers
by making sure we have hand
sanitizer and masks,” he said.
“They ensure the work is getting
done safely and they care about
our health, and I appreciate that.”
There have been times, however,
when Norat felt that he and his fellow
truck drivers have been taken
for granted.
“We’re the forgotten essential
worker,” he said. “I didn’t even
realize it until I noticed a poster
outside a 7-Eleven thanking essential
workers and it didn’t list
truck drivers.”
Norat’s wife, Ruth Morrissey,
who is an emergency room nurse
in Danville and owns Anytime
Fitness in Tilton with Norat, said
the couple has been affected by
the pandemic not only as essential
workers but also as business owners
who had to close their gym for
a few months.
“We’ve had both sides of it,” she
said. “We had to close the gym
after we had just bought the business
last September.”
Morrissey said if it weren’t for their
full-time jobs and steady paychecks,
they would have lost their business.
“We wouldn’t have made it,” she said.
Now with the gym back open, the
SUSAN JOY MCKINNEY/OUR COMMUNITY
Richard Norat climbs out of the cab of the semi-truck he drives for McLane trucking in
Danville.
couple said their personal lives haven’t
changed that much other than not going
out to eat at restaurants as often as they
would like.
“We both have had to work through
this thing,” she said. “I go to church
online.”
Norat agreed. “We have stuck to our
faith, and I feel good about that.”
“I stay positive at all times, and I pray
every day that what He wants is what is
going to be,” he said.
“You can’t live in fear,” Morrissey
added. “Working in ER, I’ve seen firsthand
you can die at any time for anything.
God’s in control, not you.”
ILLIANA LIFESTYLES OUR COMMUNITY — SUMMER 2020 2016 33