Saturday, February 13, 2010.
To:
- Area Commissioners
- Volunteers
- Youth Members
- Parents
- and others who participated
From:
- Martin (Randy) MacPherson - CEC Haiti Relief Coordinator
- Debbie MacPherson - Area Commissioner - Greater Halton
Thank you for your efforts to make the Central Escarpment Council "Haiti Relief" Initiative so successful. We can't begin to thank everyone for their cooperation and generousity!
To the Area Commissioners who arranged for local storage space to simplify the ultimate collection/delivery of items to the Oakville Rotary Club warehouse location, we couldn't have done it without you. Please also thank the volunteers, youth and parents who donated items to the cause:
Conrad - The final storage point for Wellington was arranged by Randy - his employer, AO Smith, donated the use of tractor-trailer. Thank you for the use of your garage until we could get everything to Fergus. I think you also did more than your share of moving equipment into and out of your garage to help us load both our vehicles on Saturday night, so that we could deliver and unload everything at the trailer in Fergus.
A few of many notable contributions: Fred Burgess contacted Guelph Twine and talked about the project. The company donated 45,000 feet of twine to the cause! Another group donated their Canadian Tire money and purchased new tarps.
Dave Barnett - Thank you for arranging for your groups to use the Kitchener Scout Shop as a drop-off point, but more so for bringing everything from North Waterloo to Guelph on Saturday. It saved us substantial time and mileage on Sunday morning.
Between Wellington and North Waterloo, we loaded three (3) large (5'x5'x3') skids into the OA Smith trailer.
Dave Bushell - Thank you for arranging with Kevin Sakamoto for the use of his warehouse as the drop-off point in Mississauga. Please pass on our appreciation for his willingness to help us load everything into our vehicles on Sunday. Even after our pick-up, we had leaders who took their late donations directly to the Oakville warehouse.
From Mississauga, we packed seven (7) skids and a car load of tents, sleeping bags, tarps, etc. into our two vehicles and delivered everything to the Oakville warehouse.
Steve (Vickers - Yellowbriar) - Thank you for arranging your planning meeting in Milton, so that we could pick up your Area's donations and drop the load off at the warehouse in Oakville. Again, it saved us substantial time and mileage on Sunday.
From Yellowbriar, we had one vehicle full of tents, etc. We took that load to the Oakville warehouse on Sunday.
Tim Sturgeon - Thank you for communicating with your groups about the drop-off points available for them. Although it was impossible to track how much they contributed, I am sure your Area was as generous as the other areas.
Denise Powell - Thank you for arranging for most of your groups to drop off their donations directly at one of the three drop-off points in Oakville. Although it was impossible to track how much they contributed, I know that the pile of tents just kept growing every time we stopped into the warehouse.
Greg Hunt - Thank you for the coordination of collections from Burlington groups. You also arranged to have assistance on Monday to help us load both vehicles to deliver everything to the Oakville warehouse. By then, I was distinctly under the weather, so to speak, so the help was appreciated. One leader who called me Monday, coordinated his drop-off at Burlington to coincide when we were loading, so he helped us load everything, including the contents of his car.
I have to share two other milestones from Burlington:
1. The youth who won the tent for Popcorn sales for 2009-10 donated his tent to the Haiti Relief initiative. Wow! Please share our thanks.
2. Sylvie MacLean (CBC Audience Relations) is a Beaver leader with 31st Burlington. After hearing about the Haiti Relief initiative, she gave me the contact information for a woman in Toronto who had been in touch with a number of large hotels in GTA who were willing to donate sheets and blankets to the cause. We picked up four or five vehicles full of sheets and blankets, soaps and shampoos. While the donations from Central Escarpment Council were substantial, we were credited with making the arrangements for the Oakville Rotary Club to successfully fill their shipping container with items they can use.
Greater Halton -One of my volunteers talked to his company to arrange for a tractor trailer to be parked at a central site in Georgetown for the week. Then we needed to figure out how to arrange for access to the trailer. Eventually everything was arranged, and on Sunday, we off-loaded another three skids of equipment from there, and took the contents back to Fergus while we still had a little light.
After unloading both vehicles at the Fergus trailer on Sunday evening, there were six (5'x5'x4') skids which were delivered to the Oakville warehouse on Monday morning by a driver from AO Smith.
Summary:
The following is part of the report provided by the Rotarians:
… We have managed to fill an entire 40' container of emergency supplies for Haiti. The container is bound for New York City where it will be loaded on a boat this Wednesday Feb. 17th. It is expected to be in the Dominican Republic by Sunday Feb. 21st - where it will be met by Judy Warrington and representatives of the Moca, DR Rotary club. Once in the Dominican Republic it should take another week to deliver the container of supplies to the Grace Children's Hospital in Haiti which is run by International Child Care and supported by Oakville's own Dr. John Yates.
Altogether we were able to send:
· 375 tents
· 150 tarps
· 12 boxes of crutches and canes as well as 4 wheelchairs and 14 walkers
· 17 boxes of first aid supplies
· 124 boxes of blankets, sheets and towels
· 42 boxes of sleeping bags
· 43 boxes of personal supplies
· 13 boxes of buckets
· 8 boxes of reusable bags
Additionally, we still have about 1/3 of a container of blankets, back packs and food items that we were not able to fit onto this container but will be a good start for our next one!
Thank you, again, for your assistance, and the generousity of your groups, volunteers, youth and parents. Although we were not the only source of tents, tarps and sleeping bags, Central Escarpment Council made a significant contribution to the supplies that were collected and sent out. Donations also came from a challenge sent out to the Guides and Guiders of Southwestern Ontario, and schools, churches, other organizations and the public.
