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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
March 2005 |
Hoosiers deliver thousands of health kits for tsunami survivors
By Alison Bartels
Church World Service recently put out a call for extra volunteers as thousands of tsunami relief health kits arrived at the Indiana Interchurch Center in Indianapolis, the same building containing the Indiana Area United Methodist office.
Since the start of the special Indiana-Kentucky CWS Tsunami Appeal in January, more than 11,500 health kits, valued at $138,000, have been checked, packed and loaded into a semi-trailer parked in the back parking lot of the center. Thousands more continue to be processed. These kits will replenish health kits, at the CWS Warehouse in New Windsor Md., that were shipped to Indonesia for survivors of the Dec. 26 South Asia Tsunami.
CWS Regional Director the Rev. Judy Dunson described Hoosiers' overwhelming response as a "delightful problem."
Dunson told Together, "The kits are coming in steadily from all over Indiana and Kentucky, as well as from some churches in southern Ohio."
Inside the CWS office, Dunson and her team of staff and volunteers have labored for days to process the incoming health kits, one at a time.
"It can be very time consuming," said Janie Bishop, a CWS staff member.
The workers ran into problems when they found kits that were not assembled as instructed. Some kits arrived with used washcloths or missing items. Additionally, CWS put out a request for 400 individually wrapped toothbrushes after as many kits arrived with unsealed toothbrushes. Dunson said they took the time to fix all the kits found incomplete.
"If we are going to see them, we feel obliged to make them right," Dunson said.
Nevertheless, workers are enjoying themselves, as well as knowing their time will pay off as the kits meet the simple human needs of disaster survivors that have lost nearly everything. CWS staff member Gretchen Landon said she had fun tightly packing the boxes of health kits into the truck. "It's like doing Legos," she said.
Among those who have participated in the donation effort are several United Methodist congregations from New Albany in the south to New Paris in the north. Wesley Chapel UMC in New Albany donated 228 kits. Grace UMC in New Paris contributed more than 75 kits. (See related story about Ramsey, Ind. school children.)
Alison Bartels, a senior at Butler University, serves as a student intern for the Indiana Area Communications office.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008