Our stake had an amazing opportunity to do three different donations to help Syrian refugees. LDS Charities gave our ward $25,000 to spend on hygiene kits. These aren't the normal hygiene kits that the church does. These had laundry soap, dish soap, two bath towels, hand towels, sanitary napkins, shampoo, toothpaste, and toothbrushes, and bar soap. The sister who was in charge had to do a lot of this stuff from scratch as it hadn't been done here in Doha before. So she had few connections to work with. But through a miracle from God, she got all the donations.
On Saturday not all of the supplies had arrive yet, so people got together to get things ready. They taped up 700 boxes (each kit was in it's own box that was made for this purpose with each item printed on the box), folded 1400 bath towels and 3500 hand towels, etc. They told the sister in charge that the last two trucks would come by Sunday evening, but it wasn't definite. So the plan was to meet on Monday evening to assemble the kits. But then on Sunday evening (remember it's a work day here) Steve and I were putting our kids to bed and our phones kept ringing. The trucks were coming that night and they needed people to help assemble kits. Qatar Charity was willing to ship everything the next morning. So there was a rush to assemble 700 kits in one night. (Qatar Charity doesn't do charity in kind, they'd rather send the money there and have a charity there buy and distribute the supplies. Through a miracle they said they were willing to ship, under the very clear distinction that we were not partnering.)
I got there around 8:30 (Steve went on Saturday so it was my turn to go on Sunday). There were people already working. Some people were taping the tops of the dish soap, others were in the assembly line. People from the other Doha ward were there as well. I kept the bath towels stocked on the assembly line. At first I kept that and the dish soap stocked as well, so that people on the other side of the tables could take each item and put it in the box. There was a person for about every item. So there wasn't a lot of walking. They would stay in one spot and the same person put in the soap in each box etc. After a while, there was enough people that each spot had at least one person, some had two people. I had someone at first just bring me boxes of towels when I emptied one. Then he just kept the box behind me full. It was like the cruse of oil that never went dry. I always had towels.
We started the assembly line even though the toothpaste and shampoo hadn't come yet. It was amazing how fast the line moved. With an hour and half from when I arrived all the boxes were assembled, even with the toothpaste as it came in the middle. We had a break, then the shampoo arrived. Those were taped, put in boxes, and the boxes taped up. In a rush of work, we were done by 11pm.
It was amazing to see how many people came at a phone call and worked late when everyone had to be up in the morning. I'm so glad that I got to help with this. Hopefully 700 refugees in Turkey will benefit from the hygiene kits.
On Saturday not all of the supplies had arrive yet, so people got together to get things ready. They taped up 700 boxes (each kit was in it's own box that was made for this purpose with each item printed on the box), folded 1400 bath towels and 3500 hand towels, etc. They told the sister in charge that the last two trucks would come by Sunday evening, but it wasn't definite. So the plan was to meet on Monday evening to assemble the kits. But then on Sunday evening (remember it's a work day here) Steve and I were putting our kids to bed and our phones kept ringing. The trucks were coming that night and they needed people to help assemble kits. Qatar Charity was willing to ship everything the next morning. So there was a rush to assemble 700 kits in one night. (Qatar Charity doesn't do charity in kind, they'd rather send the money there and have a charity there buy and distribute the supplies. Through a miracle they said they were willing to ship, under the very clear distinction that we were not partnering.)
I got there around 8:30 (Steve went on Saturday so it was my turn to go on Sunday). There were people already working. Some people were taping the tops of the dish soap, others were in the assembly line. People from the other Doha ward were there as well. I kept the bath towels stocked on the assembly line. At first I kept that and the dish soap stocked as well, so that people on the other side of the tables could take each item and put it in the box. There was a person for about every item. So there wasn't a lot of walking. They would stay in one spot and the same person put in the soap in each box etc. After a while, there was enough people that each spot had at least one person, some had two people. I had someone at first just bring me boxes of towels when I emptied one. Then he just kept the box behind me full. It was like the cruse of oil that never went dry. I always had towels.
We started the assembly line even though the toothpaste and shampoo hadn't come yet. It was amazing how fast the line moved. With an hour and half from when I arrived all the boxes were assembled, even with the toothpaste as it came in the middle. We had a break, then the shampoo arrived. Those were taped, put in boxes, and the boxes taped up. In a rush of work, we were done by 11pm.
It was amazing to see how many people came at a phone call and worked late when everyone had to be up in the morning. I'm so glad that I got to help with this. Hopefully 700 refugees in Turkey will benefit from the hygiene kits.
4 comments:
Wow, that's really amazing! What a wonderful thing to be involved with. I think doing a humanitarian mission would be what I would really enjoy. So glad you and Steve got to be a part of it all.
That is incredible. I'm so glad you were able to be involved.
I like to just think about ONE mom with her 3 kids and no idea where her husband is or if he is dead and how much a clean towel and some shampoo will make a REAL quality difference in their lives.
Well done
Wow! What a wonderful experience! And a way to help lift up some who have lost so much.
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