Our first fundraiser of 2024 is in the books and was a resounding success! Thank you to all our supporters who bought all 200 Superbowl Squares and kept fingers crossed during the nail-biting game! In other Super Bowl news, the Rotary Club of Manassas honored Medical Missionaries at its 24th Annual Super Bowl Tail Gate Reverse Raffle Party.
Our next fundraising event, Caring Hearts 2024 Online Auction will launch on April 26th. We are busy collecting items to post on the auction site.
Big Ask – We are sharing our need for warehouse space in this issue as well.
This month our newsletter includes updates on Haiti, Ukraine, Honduras, Cameroon and Grundy, Va. Our local projects keep us busy everyday at the Manassas office. An average of 60 people come to the office for medical supplies. At the same time we have had a steady stream of cars, vans, trucks and donors on foot bringing us donations.
Looking for a Warehouse
Over the last few years you have heard us tell you about “packing containers at our warehouse“, or that we are “storing items at the warehouse.” The fact of the matter is that we do not have a warehouse in the traditional sense. Instead, Medical Missionaries uses 6 trucks/containers to store the majority of the equipment that it collects. Each one has a theme ie: boxes, wheelchairs, beds, etc.
In our newsletters you read about how we are helping to load a container to send to Honduras or last month sending a container to Cameroon. These containers are filled from items that are stored in the trucks/containers that are stored in the lot.
As you can imagine this is a very cumbersome process. In the winter it is cold, in the summer it is unbearable, and in the rain it is almost impossible to use.
So, we are reaching out to everyone who is on our mailing list and asking for you to use your contacts to help us get a “real” warehouse. We are looking for 5,000 sq/ft and the ability to have a container brought to the warehouse so that we can fill it up. We need the warehouse to be donated or have minimal cost. As you know, no one at Medical Missionaries is paid a salary. Every dollar donated is applied towards our mission of helping the poorest of the poor.
Please reach out to your friends and associates and help us find a real warehouse. 😀. Call us at (703) 335-1800 or send an email to info@medicalmissionaries.org if you can help. Thank you!
Caring Hearts Online Auction - Save the Dates
Haiti Update
St. Joseph Clinic News: Running a clinic day to day includes hundreds of different activities. One of those is a process to sterilize items after their use. Medical Missionaries shipped an autoclave to Haiti a few months that is in active use. By using an autoclave to sterilize equipment, the Clinic is able to keep medical equipment much longer.
St. Joseph Clinic sends 5-10 patients to the Hinche hospital monthly. These patients are sent to the larger hospital when St. Joseph Clinic does not have the necessary capability to treat the patient. These patients are sent either by car or motorcycle. Gasoline is extremely expensive which makes the transfer of patients a large financial burden.
The staff at St. Joseph Clinic is always in fire-fighting mode whether it is dealing with no electricity from the grid to the aforementioned price of gasoline. The most current concerns water for St. Joseph Clinic which was being diverted by customers upstream. To solve the issue, the clinic manager has worked with the Water Authority in Thomassique, and the Clinic will be connecting to the pipes that send water to the town of Thomassique.
Meds & Food For Kids: Medical Missionaries participated in a recent online meeting hosted by MFK in Haiti. Their in-country staff updated partners on the current situation in Haiti and shared how they are keeping their factory open and staff safe.
Village Mobile Clinics: St. Joseph Clinic staff sent us these photos and videos of their recent clinics in the villages of Bouloum and Savane Plate. Medical Missionaries is grateful for the generous donors and supporters who make these clinics possible for people in the Thomassique area of Haiti where there is no other healthcare available.
Below video’s translation: The Missionaries and I are here in the hospital this morning to teach you about food and nutrition and the importance of healthy eating. Please be sure you remember what we are about to tell you. The best way to prevent malnutrition is to eat a health, balanced diet. For kids to be healthy they need to eat a variety of foods like greens, vegetables, beans, rice or cornmeal with a bit of meat on the side.
We did it! Thanks to our supporters near and far for helping us achieve our goal of selling out the two Super Bowl Square Games! The money raised will be used for our projects also near and far. We know the people who receive them are so grateful for each and every one of you.
Supplies and Equipment In and Out
Ukraine: Medical Missionaries has been partnering with the Traveling Colonels, who travel to Poland with medical supplies that they source from groups like ours. Ret. Col. Monte Dunard sent us this recent video about a donation of otoscopes that we were able to give them for the medical units working on the front lines in Ukraine.
Local Medical Practice Closure: Medical Missionaries was the recent recipient of medical equipment and supplies from the closure of a large medical practice in Manassas.
Our volunteer team worked hard to move and store a generous amount of items that will be put to vital use in Honduras, Cameroon and locally as well. We are very grateful to this practice for their donations and to our steady volunteers, especially Nils and Jonathan
Stella Marina – an Operation Starfish Project based in Fairfax, Va. -sent us this message via Instagram:
“Thank you @medicalmissionaries for helping us get exam tables and other supplies for our new clinic in Honduras! Takes a village of nonprofits all helping each other to help the least of our brothers.”
The items that we donated to their Honduras project was part of the donations sourced from the Manassas physician office. Medical Missionaries has been helping Starfish get a container packed that will be on the way to Honduras soon.
Bamenda, Cameroon: Medical Missionaries sponsored a medical/surgical fact-finding trip to Bamenda, Cameroon in West Africa. The team consisted of Anna Penna, MD and Rebecca Erdelyi, RN at the invitation of Archbishop Andrew Nkea.
The medical team traveled to see how Medical Missionaries can continue our support of the medical school, hospital and clinics that Bishop Nkea is currently building in that area of 22 million people. Medical Missionarues has already sent several sea containers of medical supplies and equipment to support them.
Grundy, Va: Medical Missionaries volunteer JD drove the 7-hour trip to and from the Food Pantry to deliver food and winter coats our donors collected for the Rocklick community.
