Small contributions are HUGE!

     Whenever I made a small donation to a worthy cause, I often wondered "Gosh, does my paltry little donation really matter?"  I would walk away feeling guilty for giving what I could give because it didn't seem to be a "big enough" contribution.  I felt if I couldn't give a large quantity of something or a sizeable check, then why bother?  I mean really, would $5 or $10 really help the recipient?
     Yes!!  As the Haiti 2011 trip approaches, donations are still trickling in.  And they are piling up!  Although we've shipped approximately 450# of donations and supplies to Haiti, we may have to arrange another shipment! 
     People have handed me checks for large and small amounts; money we will use to purchase rice and beans.  To paraphrase a friend, "That $5 is $5 more than you had when you started."  And now that $5 will feed a family of 4 for one week - more food than they will have had before we came.
     I'm learning it's not about the amount of money or the number of donated tote bags.  It's what you do with each and every penny, each and every tote bag you give away.  It's about taking the fish and loaves God gives you, passing it on to those in need, then letting Him multiply the increase to impact as many people as He will.
     After all, God owns everything.  Whether it be a tote bag or a $5 check, my job is to be a pipeline of blessings between God, the donors, and those in need.  I'm just the hands to pass along whatever God places within them.
     Don't not give just because you think your gift is too small to make a difference.  Every blizzard starts with one snowflake, every flood with one raindrop.  Every gift to an impoverished person starts with "one." 
     A sincere thank you to everyone who has donated anything to Haiti!

Would you sleep on this?



Mattresses at Tabitha's orphanage



     Probably not.  But 20-25 orphans at Tabitha's do.  Every night.  And yet they are lucky.  They have mattresses.  Even though they look like this.  Tattered, torn, soiled and unsanitary.  If you don't have a mattress, you sleep on the ground.  Or on concrete.

     Why are the mattresses outside in the sun and not on the bedframes?  Little kids are little kids.  And little kids without diapers, well....  that's why the mattresses are put outside in the daytime.  At nighttime, the mattresses are put back on the beds for the kids to sleep on.

     This is Haiti.  You do what you have to do.  If you have the choice between spending money (if you have it) on diapers or food, which would you choose?  At least these little guys and gals have mattresses.  Not the most sanitary conditions in which to sleep, but at least they are up off the ground.

     I asked D. how much to replace the mattresses.  $400.  E.a.c.h.  What???  Yep, $400 each.  Haiti has no mattress manufacturers, so mattresses must be purchased outside the country and shipped in.  Purchase price + shipping costs = pricey mattress.  But wait, there's more....  If you ship the mattresses in to Haiti, now you have to pay the "customs taxes," aka bribes, to get the shipment through Customs.  Ka-ching, ka-ching.  D. says the most cost effective way to get mattresses is to buy them in the Dominican Republic and truck them over to Haiti.  $400 each.  The orphanage needs ten.

     If you will help me raise $4,000 for ten new mattresses, I will personally buy the waterproof mattress bags to put them in.  And this precious little guy will sleep well.

Haiti Packing Party

     Whew!  What a whirlwind!  Thanks to several hearty volunteers from church and a dear co-worker, we packed ten 33" x 16" x 14" trunks for our upcoming trip.  We scheduled two days for a "come and go, look and see" packing party.  Curious about what we are shipping?  Want to see how much 1,000 bars of hotel soap is, or what a pile of 200+ tote bags looks like?  How much stuff can you cram into one 33" x 16" x 14" trunk?  This was the place to be to see it.  We packed tote bags, soaps, toothpaste / toothbrushes, gallon size ziplock bags (for bagging rice and beans), sewing kits, hard candies, tennis balls, MREs, etc.  And it all had to be broken out into easy access to the supplies for both morning and afternoon distribution runs.  No time to sort and repack once we reach Haiti.  It took us roughly 10 hours over several days to assemble, organize and pack all of our supplies.



Our supplies ready to ship to Haiti

     Since the trunks, weighing 50-60# each, were sitting in my living room, I was designated the "shipper."  After weighing pricing options between the two large shipping companies, the choice was made.  I dutifully printed off 10 shipping labels, oh so neat and perfect.  Pick-up time for the trunks was set.  The doorbell rang.  "Uh......"  Long pause from the delivery man, never a good thing.  "Where are the barcodes on the labels?"

     D'uh!!  I had a hunch I goofed somewhere.  Up to this point, it had all gone much too smoothly.  Not to worry.  Being the kind, uber customer service delivery man that he was, he told me how to rectify the situation - and he even gave me his cell phone number on the truck so I could call him when I had everything relabeled.  Several hours and ten shiny new barcoded shipping labels later, I called the delivery man back and said the trunks were set to go.

Thanks, Frank!

     104 stops later, he was back at my door.  He showed me how to scan the labels as he carted them off to his truck.  (I can't imagine hoisting boxes back and forth all day, every day.  Ouch!)  We got to talking about Haiti and all the heartache and poverty down there.  I told him to think about going on one of our trips; he said he didn't think he could handle the heartbreak.  "I wish I could do something to help them, though."

     "You ARE!!," I told him.  "You are helping us get our supplies down there.  Without you and your shipping company, we couldn't do what we are doing."
     From start to finish, many hands participated in the Haiti Packing Party.  Donors.  Packers.  Shippers.  Thanks, everyone!