This is the third in of our series on “What BonaResponds does”. It is intended to (re)acquaint our followers and others about how much BonaResponds does and to get more people involved. Lack of volunteers is always the #1 thing holding us back, ALWAYS. So come help.
BonaResponds
got into the “collection” business early on. Before the “big trip” in
March 2006, a few students asked if they could help collect items for a
softball team in Kiln Mississippi. Within weeks what had started out as
an idea to help a single softball team had, thanks to Carrie and Josh,
grown to fill a large truck and outfit teams from several baseball and
softball leagues.
While
we had success in collecting items, there has to be a specific need and
target for our collections. For instance, we will not collect clothes
after disasters as time and again we have seen these wasted and worse as
they use valuable volunteer time.
That said, there are many needs that we can help. The list of collections that we have done include:
- Softball baseball equipment for Mississippi
- Books for Biloxi/Gulfport Mississippi
- Crutches, walkers, Wheelchairs for Haiti--(Portlight gets major kudos on shipping)
- Medical supplies for Haiti--mainly went to Port-au-Prince
- Hygiene items for Haiti--sites primarily around Leaogane
- Soccer balls for Haiti--Worked with Harvard on Shipping)
- Coats for Buffalo Homeless Shelter (Little Portions)
- Computers--have gone to Erie PA, Margaretville NY, Olean NY, and over 40 to Buffalo.
- Notebooks and Paper for Camden NJ-St Anthony’s
- Shoes for Soles4Souls to be distributed in Haiti primarily
- School Supplies for Schools in Haiti
These
items can make a big difference. How big? Check out this video on our
collections for Haiti. So far over 70 pallets of supplies have been
shipped to Haiti. While it is costly (each barrel costs about $150 to
ship ($110 from Brooklyn to Haiti, $40 from Olean to Brooklyn), each
barrel has about $600-$800 of supplies that will be used in Haiti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGiueA4qG9E
Things we are currently collecting:
1. School Supplies for Haiti
2. Shoes for Haiti
3. Winter coats for Western New York (will be given part to Little Portions in Buffalo and partly in Olean via New Directions.)
4. Laptop computers
5. Flat panel monitors for computers (thanks to Cutco we are OK for the time being on computers)
6. Books for 5-8th graders in NYC and elsewhere.
7. Small toys and balls (soccer and basketball) for Haiti schools.
Get involved, you will be glad you did!
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