Collection Effort Will Take Everything from Sweaters to Hand Tools
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. -- The Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island and Clear Path International, an island-based humanitarian nonprofit, are seeking winter relief goods for Pakistan.
The two organizations are asking Kitsap County residents to donate their used but useable blankets, sleeping bags, tents, tarps, ground sheets, linens, medium- to heavy-weight clothes, coats, hats, scarves, gloves, shoes, boots, generic school supplies (pens, pencils, notebooks, etc.), hand tools, wool, fabric and sewing materials.
Donors can drop off all washed and functional items in the north parking lot at Sakai Intermediate School, 9394 Sportsman Club Rd. on Bainbridge Island, 9 a.m. -- 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, Feb. 26. No junk, please.
Volunteers from Rotary and Clear Path will staff the Sakai drop-off point. The goods will be loaded onto a trailer provided by Hill Moving & Storage of Poulsbo. Hill will transfer the items to Clear Path's warehouse in Seattle where they will be loaded into an ocean container with medical equipment and supplies.
The shipment of the container is expected to be paid for by a grant from Rotary. The container is the second of at least two loads Clear Path is coordinating for the town of Mansehra, located 20 miles from the epicenter of last year's devastating earthquake north of Islamabad. On Feb. 3, the first container packed with surgical, first aid and orthopedic supplies left for Pakistan.
The shipments' medical goods will be used by Pak Relief & Development, a local relief group, to rebuild a hospital and a clinic in Mansehra. The collection items will be distributed to earthquake victims and local schools. The fabric and sewing materials will be used to set up a sewing training center for the survivors.
In October, a 7.6 earthquake hit South Asia doing most of its damage in mountainous northern Pakistan. More than 73,000 people died and millions were rendered homeless by the disaster just before the winter season. After the earthquake, the population of Mansehra swelled to 70,000 from its normal 52,000 because of surrounding mountain villagers seeking aide in town.
Since it began its medical relief effort, Clear Path has sent 60 containers to hospitals and clinics in 21 countries with more than $4 million worth of supplies and equipment from North American donors. Clear Path, which is arranging the relief effort as part of its hospital support program for countries affected by landmines, is also accepting financial contributions to help pay for possible additional assistance to Mansehra or hospitals elsewhere in the earthquake zone.
Please send checks to Clear Path International, 321 High School Rd. NE, #574, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.