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United Methodists and others shipping health kits to Haiti
By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com
More than 2,100 "Haiti Health Kits" donated by members of the United Methodist Church were picked up in Grand Island on Tuesday afternoon to be shipped to Haiti.
The health kits were donated by UMC members in the York, Hastings, Columbus and Grand Island areas.
Larry Cast, a member of Faith United Methodist Church in Grand Island, said the call went out two Sundays ago for church members to donate the items needed for one complete Haiti Health Kit. Those items include:
- One hand towel, size 15 inches by 25 inches, up to size 17 inches by 27 inches. No kitchen towels were to be included.
- One wash cloth.
- One large, sturdy comb. That meant no pocket-sized combs.
- One nail file or fingernail clipper. That meant no emery boards or toenail clippers.
- One bath-size bar of soap. That meant bars that are 3 ounces or more.
- One toothbrush. The specifications were for single brushes only, in the original wrapper. No child-size toothbrushes were to be included.
All these items were to be placed in a sealed, one-gallon plastic bag.
Donors also were asked to donate $1 to buy toothpaste and an additional $1 per kit to pay for shipping costs. Cast said the total cost of a complete Haiti Health Kit is about $12.
He said none of the items in the kits are the life-saving supplies of food, water and medicine that were needed in the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. But he said he believes such items still fill a vital need for the people of Haiti.
Grand Island residents who lived through the 1980 tornadoes may remember how they felt in the first few hot summer days after June 3, 1980, when city officials asked people not to shower or take baths. At the time, city officials were afraid of overloading Grand Island's sanitary sewer system with wastewater of any kind, including from showers and baths.
Electrical service was cut off to many parts of Grand Island. Consequently, there was no electricity to operate many of the lift stations for the city's sanitary sewer system.
After a couple of days, the Grand Island YMCA was able to open its doors to the public for people who wanted to come in and take a shower.
Cast said the situation is probably the same for Haiti. After the initial rush to rescue people from the rubble and to rush food, water and medicine to Haiti, attention is starting to turn to slightly longer-term needs, such as how to help people live in the relatively Spartan conditions offered by the temporary shelters and tent cities that have been erected in Haiti.
He asked people to consider how good it must feel just to be able to clean up again after going without any showers or baths for days. He said that simple act would help people both mentally and physically.
Cast said excess toothbrushes, wash cloths and soap were donated, probably because those were the easiest items for people to donate. Many of those excess items will be shipped so they can be combined with other personal hygiene items such as fingernail clippers and combs to make complete Haiti Health Kits.
But some of the extra toothbrushes, wash cloths and bars of soap are being donated to Hope Harbor in Grand Island, Cast said.
Not everyone donated a dollar for toothpaste and a dollar for shipping, Cast said. However, more than $2,000 was donated to buy toothpaste and to pay for shipping.
The Haiti Health Kit is a project by the United Methodist Committee On Relief or UMCOR, Cast said.
UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are of such magnitude that they overwhelm the ability of a local community, region or even an entire country to respond.
Health kits collected from the United Methodist churches in the York, Columbus, Hastings and Grand Island areas were all taken to Faith United Methodist Church in Grand Island. Cast said the kits filled 94 boxes.
A truck that had earlier made stops in Ogallala and Kearney on Tuesday stopped at Faith United Methodist late that afternoon to pick up the boxes. Cast said all the boxes filled with health kits will eventually reach an UMCOR shipping depot in Baldwin, La., and will be sent from there to Haiti.
Cast noted that one woman in the community heard about the UMCOR project and donated to the health kits efforts. He said the Character Council at Seedling Mile enlisted the help of fellow students at that school to donate Haiti Health Kits as well.
The health kits were donated by UMC members in the York, Hastings, Columbus and Grand Island areas.
Larry Cast, a member of Faith United Methodist Church in Grand Island, said the call went out two Sundays ago for church members to donate the items needed for one complete Haiti Health Kit. Those items include:
- One hand towel, size 15 inches by 25 inches, up to size 17 inches by 27 inches. No kitchen towels were to be included.
- One wash cloth.
- One large, sturdy comb. That meant no pocket-sized combs.
- One nail file or fingernail clipper. That meant no emery boards or toenail clippers.
- One bath-size bar of soap. That meant bars that are 3 ounces or more.
- One toothbrush. The specifications were for single brushes only, in the original wrapper. No child-size toothbrushes were to be included.
All these items were to be placed in a sealed, one-gallon plastic bag.
Donors also were asked to donate $1 to buy toothpaste and an additional $1 per kit to pay for shipping costs. Cast said the total cost of a complete Haiti Health Kit is about $12.
He said none of the items in the kits are the life-saving supplies of food, water and medicine that were needed in the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. But he said he believes such items still fill a vital need for the people of Haiti.
Grand Island residents who lived through the 1980 tornadoes may remember how they felt in the first few hot summer days after June 3, 1980, when city officials asked people not to shower or take baths. At the time, city officials were afraid of overloading Grand Island's sanitary sewer system with wastewater of any kind, including from showers and baths.
Electrical service was cut off to many parts of Grand Island. Consequently, there was no electricity to operate many of the lift stations for the city's sanitary sewer system.
After a couple of days, the Grand Island YMCA was able to open its doors to the public for people who wanted to come in and take a shower.
Cast said the situation is probably the same for Haiti. After the initial rush to rescue people from the rubble and to rush food, water and medicine to Haiti, attention is starting to turn to slightly longer-term needs, such as how to help people live in the relatively Spartan conditions offered by the temporary shelters and tent cities that have been erected in Haiti.
He asked people to consider how good it must feel just to be able to clean up again after going without any showers or baths for days. He said that simple act would help people both mentally and physically.
Cast said excess toothbrushes, wash cloths and soap were donated, probably because those were the easiest items for people to donate. Many of those excess items will be shipped so they can be combined with other personal hygiene items such as fingernail clippers and combs to make complete Haiti Health Kits.
But some of the extra toothbrushes, wash cloths and bars of soap are being donated to Hope Harbor in Grand Island, Cast said.
Not everyone donated a dollar for toothpaste and a dollar for shipping, Cast said. However, more than $2,000 was donated to buy toothpaste and to pay for shipping.
The Haiti Health Kit is a project by the United Methodist Committee On Relief or UMCOR, Cast said.
UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are of such magnitude that they overwhelm the ability of a local community, region or even an entire country to respond.
Health kits collected from the United Methodist churches in the York, Columbus, Hastings and Grand Island areas were all taken to Faith United Methodist Church in Grand Island. Cast said the kits filled 94 boxes.
A truck that had earlier made stops in Ogallala and Kearney on Tuesday stopped at Faith United Methodist late that afternoon to pick up the boxes. Cast said all the boxes filled with health kits will eventually reach an UMCOR shipping depot in Baldwin, La., and will be sent from there to Haiti.
Cast noted that one woman in the community heard about the UMCOR project and donated to the health kits efforts. He said the Character Council at Seedling Mile enlisted the help of fellow students at that school to donate Haiti Health Kits as well.
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