Thanks MINN Volunteers!

Thanks MINN Volunteers!

Last night we hosted a group of volunteers from the Minnesota International NGO Network at the Mano a Mano office/warehouse to sort & pack donated medical supplies, and we got a lot done!

MINN volunteers at Mano a Mano, March 1st, 2017. Photo Credit: MINN Facebook page.

Here’s a note from Mano a Mano volunteer warehouse manager Ray:

Amazing what 9 dedicated volunteers can do in 2 hours. Here is a shout out to the Minnesota International NGO Network’s 7 members who helped Karen and I sort out and prep 17 gaylords of wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and canes this evening. And in the end just a few orphan crutches who will also find a Bolivian home….. Thanks MINN volunteers!!!

MINN volunteers packing crutches & walkers

A few orphan crutches left…

These Supplies are Included in Mano a Mano Shipments to Bolivia…

The prep work done by MINN and other Mano a Mano volunteers at the warehouse – shrink-wrapping crutches, walkers, and wheelchairs; sorting & packing boxes with supplies; filling gaylords; stacking pallets – is a big part of the shipping process. A couple of times a year we buy 40-foot containers (usually 4 at a time) to stuff with all of these ready-to-go supplies & equipment, and ship them to Bolivia, where they are then sorted & organized again by our Bolivian staff & volunteers in preparation for their distribution to people & organizations in need throughout the country.

One of the four containers leaving the Mano a Mano warehouse on February 14th, 2017 in our most recent shipment – nearly 85,000 pounds of supplies are currently en route to Bolivia.

Mano a Mano staff and volunteers at our Cochabamba, Bolivia warehouse sorting supplies shipped from Minnesota, in a previous shipment sent last year, earlier this week.

…Where They are Distributed to People in Need Throughout Bolivia

Once supplies are ready for distribution at our Cochabamba, Bolivia warehouse, a large portion are donated during big public distribution events, like this one in October 2016:

October 2016 Distribution Event

Sending a Truckload of Supplies to the Municipality of San Ignacio de Moxos

Sometimes larger amounts of supplies are sent directly to the community, like this truckload to the Municipality of San Ignacio de Moxos to benefit 32 health centers in the area:

Thanks Mano a Mano Volunteers!

Thank you to everyone that helps in this process! It takes many months, and lots of work, from the time a box of medical supplies or a pair of crutches arrives at our St. Paul warehouse until it gets in the hands of someone that needs it in Bolivia. But for us it is worth the effort, and we couldn’t do it without the many amazing people that help out.

One of the many wheelchairs that were donated on October 22nd, 2016 to people in need.