This Bluffton man needed a U-Haul to drop off his Harvey donation — 600 cups of mac ‘n cheese and 1,800 protein bars

You go to Sam’s Club when you’re buying a big haul.

And John McCann’s Labor Day purchase was a big haul.

So big that the Bluffton resident rented a U-Haul for pick-up Monday afternoon.

So big that Sam’s Club put together his order in advance on a pallet.

For $1,080, he bought 50 boxes of instant mac ‘n cheese, each containing 12 cups, and 1,800 Fiber One protein bars — all for the Houstonians struggling to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Harvey ripped through them.

“I like to contribute to the causes and this one was extremely worthy,” McCann said.

You may remember him from last Christmas when he spent around $1,300 on the Bluffton Police Department’s annual toy drive. The Wal-Mart receipt stretched three feet and seven inches long.

This one, though, for the 50 cases of mac ‘n cheese and 50 cases of protein bars is a “short little receipt,” he said.

Scrolling through Facebook last week, McCann noticed Okatie Ale House — a restaurant where he considers himself a “frequent flyer” — was calling for water, diapers, pet food, inflatable air mattresses and non-perishable food items for the ongoing Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

Okatie Ale House is collecting until Sept. 8 and the donations will be shipped down to Texas, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page.

“We weren’t expecting that much,” said Kylee Glaser, a manager at Okatie Ale House, of the size of McCann’s donation. Glaser was working when McCann dropped off his donation.

Harvey had hit McCann hard. While he said he hasn’t ever visited the Houston area, his sister lives in Dallas.

His own experience of Hurricane Matthew last fall, when rain poured through the roof of his third-floor apartment but he was there to catch most of it, also moved him to donate.

But why not write a check? And why buy a U-Haul’s worth of food?

“I don’t know,” McCann said in response. “It’s the way I was raised, I guess. My son is in the Navy and he’s stationed in South Korea. He’s doing his part, so I’m doing mine.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2017 at 5:59 PM with the headline "This Bluffton man needed a U-Haul to drop off his Harvey donation — 600 cups of mac ‘n cheese and 1,800 protein bars."