As the country joins together to help the relief effort for the victims of Hurricane Ike, World Vision is doing their part to contribute.
The Bronx World Vision Storehouse, located at 885 E. 138th Street, was called into action and put together a trailer load of supplies designed to help with the clean up effort, to be loaded up and shipped out Tuesday, September 24 at 1 p.m.
“Thousands of people will be returning home and finding their places wiped out or a complete mess,” said Tim Reeve, program manager at the Bronx storehouse, “this is a coordinated effort towards relief.”
Included in this trailer are 24 pallets of emergency supplies. These consist of latex gloves, cleaning supplies, paper towels, protective clothing, dust masks, shovels, and 1,000 hygiene kits.
“The hygiene kits are very important,” stated Reeve, a member of the organization for the past year.
Each kit consists of basic necessities, such as toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, shaving cream, feminine products, and much more.
The delivery is to be received by the Church of God in Christ State Headquarters, located in Houston. There the supplies will be distributed to those most in need.
According to Reeve, a majority of the items included in the shipment come from the storehouse supply, accumulated through donations from various warehouses and organizations.
“When manufacturers have excess product they need to move, they offer it to us and we take it rather quickly,” he said.
The World Vision organization began efforts prior to the hurricane, preparing for whatever the it may have inflicted. Storehouses in Dallas and Picayune, Mississippi were already sending out supplies, when the Bronx storehouse was called to action.
“World Vision New York was able to respond within 24 hours,” said warehouse manager Craig Hawthorne, who has been with the company over four years. “We put everything together in coordination with Phyllis Freeman, our world vision director who was deployed down to Texas.”
In addition to assisting in disaster relief, World Vision New York makes significant contributions throughout the southern Bronx community. The organization has over 160 partners they work with in the Bronx, including local churches, local community programs, and non-profit organizations.
For more information on World Vision and their causes or volunteer services, visit www.worldvision.org.
World Vision is an international Christian relief organization that is involved with over 100 countries throughout the world. Their mission is to work with children, families, and their communities to reach their full potential by tracking causes of poverty and injustice.
