Featured Photo: September 3 we loaded a container in Nashville, TN at the Healing Hands International facility. This was coordinated by the Hillsboro Church of Christ (Joel Campbell & Ron Swang and MANY others). Joining Hillsboro was a number of eager partners who worked with many others to secure the items—Beto Santiago, Kathy Cadden, and Alvin Creasy. Healing Hands International offered the storage space and loaded the container when all had been gathered!
A container loading narrative
Below is the narrative of this container loading. Read and be thankful for the eager willingness of so many brethren. They “pulled together” to collect, pack, inventory and ship a container of critically needed supplies for Ukraine.
Buckets! The efforts of Hillsboro began with collecting Family Buckets. Their beginning spark ignited activity from Beto Santiago (Nashville metro area), Kathy Cadden (efforts reaching from Texas to Kentucky!), and Alvin Creasy (Wayne Furnace Church of Christ in Waynesboro, TN). We have included previous reports on this project on this site and you can go back and review those postings for more details of the wonderful cooperation that has marked this project.
The following narrative brings us to the loading and shipping to Gif in Ivano-Frankivsk. When the container arrives, we will continue the narrative with the unloading and distribution.
Family Buckets continue to be an urgent request from Ukraine. The pleas continue to come. I would like to pass that plea along to those reading this report. Please help!
The Beginning…February…“I shared some information with the Missions committee members on Sunday morning. I also shared my expectations for future involvement of Hillsboro to prepare buckets for those folks who have been displaced. Hillsboro has done this before and I would like to generate interest in doing so again. We would like to know if the round 5-gallon buckets are still the preferred method for shipping items that are needed. Is there another method you would suggest? We would also like to have a list of items which would benefit those receiving these buckets. This is still in the early stages but gathering this information will help the Missions Committee develop the best plan of action. Our hope is to prepare a communication and operation plan, which will have support of the elders, to get the entire congregation involved. This email is being shared with the missions’ members and elders who have oversight for this ministry. I look forward to hearing from you. God Bless your involvement in this important work, Joel.”
Progression….May…“Our group met last night to insure we have all steps covered for preparing buckets for shipment. We had questions raised last evening that neither Ron Swang or myself had the answer. Scott Saunders, works at Healing Hands, has the buckets and lids and is very helpful. Goal: 500 buckets however we are not going to limit ourselves to that number-going to see response. Shipping directions – we realize we will need to transport to your location but need to know where and of course when-we plan to have project completed by middle of June. Cost of Shipping – we will certainly help with expenses. Labels for buckets – there was confusion on what would be placed on buckets and when that should be done or is that not something we will do. Pallets – should we use pallets for loading container. Container – where will it go (Poland or somewhere else) – destination city in Ukraine? Columbia – is this a possible location for delivery of buckets to load on container? HAVE WE FORGOTTEN ANYTHING? Joel”
June…inching closer… We are moving buckets to Healing Hands on Friday. Can you provide a place to deliver for loading on container? We are still receiving buckets but my sense is we are probably going to be less than 500. I will know more by Wednesday night. Scott Saunders was just wanting to know the plan for transporting from HHI to your location. I received some additional information concerning the buckets at Hillsboro. We have given families until June 19 to return to building. We will move buckets out of building on the 20th. The timeframe for us moving buckets to your location begins after the 19th. Just let me know where and when it will be convenient to deliver. I also need to know what we need to pay for shipping, etc!”
July…Beto Santiago “John, I read your account about your journey back to Ukraine. It is trying, but I am glad you are back safe and sound! I can access around 200 to 300 buckets available at HHI. I took buckets to 4 area congregations. I want to approach a few others this week. Even if they delivered a few dozen each, that would be a beginning and opening for future cooperation. Can we still collect items by August 11th? That may give us a time to collect Winter coats! Please notify me when you are ready to send the trailer to Healing Hands to coordinate the loading, unless you have someone in charge. Safe traveling! Beto”
More from Hillsboro… “John, I spoke with Scott a couple of Sundays ago and he is waiting on items to complete load. All buckets are at HH and ready to go. Based on Beto’s info, that would be wonderful for winter items to get on that load. Scott has been talking with Beto on regular basis. It would be great to get those items to HH for loading. Hopefully your email went to Scott and Ron S. because they have been a big help in getting this completed. Joel”
Healing Hands… “Hope all of you have had a good Tuesday. In response to possible loading, with reasonable time notice (one week) to plan & get prepared, Healing Hands Intl. should be able to load a container. I believe scheduling should be done once all items to be loaded have been delivered to HHI and can be staged for the 2-hour loading time. We would need to schedule with our warehouse manager (Chris Gannon) around five other containers that are currently in process. At this point, the only items we are holding in the warehouse for this shipment are the approximate 386 Hillsboro buckets. Scott”
July ends with plans in place… “Good morning all! Charita, I hope the trip is going well and jet-lag is not horrible. Give my greetings to all there! Scott, thank you for the reply and THANK YOU TO HHI for coordinating the collection and loading. Joel tells me that you and Beto are in constant communication and that is good news. Beto is trying to secure a large amount of winter coats to include in the container. The coming winter is going to be deadly since Russia has destroyed most of the infrastructure that can provide heating. We need to pray hard that God allows the mildest winter in history for Ukraine! While winter coats are good, any commodity can be sent. I just don’t want to waste any volume in the container. Scott & Beto…we need to stuff this container full and any voids that are not taken by H’boro buckets needs to be filled with any commodity. I have a friend in Waynesboro, TN that has sent medical supplies on a number of other containers and relief flights. I think he may have brought some things to HHI for one of the containers shipped for us. His name is Alvin Creasy. I’ve sent Alvin communication on this load and will advise him to contact you. As med supplies many are in smaller boxes and well-serve as fillers for voids. Scott, you advise on a loading date and we will target that time. Charita will secure logistical moves as previous. I know our timeline has been pushed back some but God will use this in His time schedule. The buckets will be a great blessing! Gif and I have discussed their distribution to congregations that are near the frontline. THANK YOU, HILLSBORO, for initiating this project!”
And then logistical issues… “Hello everyone, I received a notification on international logistics issues due to China’s heatwave. Delays and cost increases usually follow this type of news. I strongly recommend booking this shipment to save on the cost. We can always roll the booking if more time is needed to prepare. Charita”
August begins… “ALCON…just talked with KATHY CADDEN. She has 10 pallets of MRES, 4 pallets of enriched rice meals in L’ville, various medical supplies and other items she will bring for the load. I think she will be at HHI tomorrow to offload some things. She was thinking the load was next Wednesday. Remember we still have Alvin Creasy from Waynesboro, TN bringing a trailer load of med supplies. John”
Together we do sooo much more… “Good Morning ALL! A Special shout-out to Scott, Chris and HHI! Just wanted to share some good news that Kathy Cadden sent yesterday. She had located TEN pallets of MREs in TX and wanted to include these for the container with Hillsboro’s buckets (I’m designating it “H’boro Container” since they were the spark initiating this!). The problem was transporting from TX to HHI in Nashville. She was going to rent a truck and pay for it out of personal funds. But a good sister in TX knew that HHI truck had brought some disaster relief supplies. They contacted HHI (not sure who or I’d give credit) and HHI was willing to bring those MREs back in its empty truck! Just another amazing blessing that Gd has provided! We are still working on logistics for the enriched meals in Louisville, KY to be transported to HHI for the H’boro container. Beto is working on other contacts in the N’ville are for supplies to stuff the container. I talked with Alvin Creasy and he’s been in contact with Scott. So, things are coming together with the help of the Lord as He offers amazing opportunities to get the job done! Rejoice! Thank you!”
August 13… “Hey John hope all is well. I wanted to reach out and let you know it looks like we have everything in the warehouse now. There are a total of 34 pallets including 14 pallets of food plus around 414 buckets. We have all the pallets in the racks and ready for someone to come over and inventory them. When we know someone is on their way over, we can have them all set down on the dock to be gone through. Once you have your inventory, we can then start looking at loading dates. I have 5 other containers we are working on right now, but we will make sure to get yours scheduled for loading between what we have going out. Thanks John and talk to you soon. Chris”
August 14… “I have ten pallets of MREs which is like almost five pallets space wise. The bags of shoes were put in cargo boxes. Do not have an idea of how many cargo boxes. If the shoes were taken out of bags they could be consolidated, but having help to do that is almost nil. I brought three full pallets of linens and clothing. One box of spam 50count. Mila had basically a full pallet and walkers, wheelchairs and crutches/walkers are packed in cargo Gaylord box. The person brought his medical. Beto brought winter coats. I think we have enough. Depends on Gaylord boxes of shoes. Love you Kathy”
August 21… “To Ron Swang: We can have everything together for you and/or Joel Campbell to inventory any day or days you want to come from 8:00 to 2:00 Mondays thru Thursdays starting next week (8/25). Chris will need some advance notice (1-2 days) so he can be sure to pull the pallets down (from the stacks) and put them together for you to inventory. The 14 pallets of food and the approximate 415 buckets should be relatively quick and easy. There are approximately 16 pallets of clothing or medical supplies plus some car parts that will require a little time depending on how detailed the sheet John Kachelman sent to you requires your inventory to be…for instance I’m not sure if John wants you to check and make sure if any medical supplies are past expiration dates. John can reply to the detail needed. Reply to all with any questions or additional input. Blessings! Scott”
August 22… “Hello folks, Joel and Ron will do the inventory for container on Wednesday, August 28 from 8:00am til 2:00pm. Scott and Chris, I believe this is enough notification for your preparation at HHI to get the pallets positioned. We will be there as close to 8 as possible so that this task can be completed. Please advise for any special instructions to completing worksheet. Will there be someone available to provide necessary directions and instructions when we arrive? How many copies of the worksheet should I bring with me? If I have anything wrong in this email, please let me know! Joel”
“Joel & Ron, Thank you for doing this. I think the worksheet referenced is the attached spreadsheet. If HHI gives me the final inventory load list I don’t need a copy. The food expiration date that we will use is on the outside of the boxes. Just put that date down for all foods. I’ll take care of the detailed list of misc med disposables, Family Buckets, and any other item. Thanks to all, John”
August 28… “Inventory completed! Thanks for letting us help today. I hope this is what you wanted and Joel and I will double check when we can print things out to see collum headings. Ron and Joel”
Loading… “Hi Charita, Do you have confirmation on the delivery to HHI tomorrow? Please look over the attached. We can tweak after we get final load data. Do you have any further advice? Have you heard from Pasha as to which NGO we can use? This container will deliver to Gif in Ivano-Frankivsk.
“Chris, I have attached the load inventory. I took the number of Family Buckets from previous communication so if the number has changed, please change it on the spreadsheet. You will note that there are several RED places that you will need to fill-in and then send us a scanned copy of the final doc with all filled-in places. I took the numbers Joel & Ron sent me and condensed to our usual inventory schedule.”
Trucker confirmation… “Based on the dates I have, we need to load on 9/3. Can we load at 10AM to give the driver time to pull the empty container? Thanks, Chris”
September 3 Loading Completed… “The container is loaded and attached is the paperwork and pictures you requested. Scott and I had our bucket count off and there were only 353 total buckets, but we were only able to get 329 buckets on the container. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Chris”
Beto’s newsletter… “Nashville Container is on its way to Ukraine! Hey everyone, The container that was loaded in Nashville has been shipped to Ukraine! Thank you to everyone who participated in this noble effort! Unfortunately, this may not be the last time we are called to help those in need in that part of the world. But Christ’s church is always willing and ready to respond.”
Success!
As the final data was received and processed for shipping Hillsboro’s container, these final numbers emerged showing the wonderful results going to assist thousands in the name oof the lord and His Church!
- Total pieces loaded: 1,160
- Total weight of loaded items: 28,714
- Total value shipped: $121,800.00
Another Container Delivery
I previously posted news of a container we loaded in Montgomery, AL that had fire fighting equipment for Kharkiv, food, medical supplies and other needed commodities. The container’s delivery went well. Here is a follow-up report. A special THANKS to brother MIKE LAWSON who greatly assisted in this successful delivery!
“Dear Mr Brian, We have distributed most of the medical materials and food. We didn’t find anything from the mentioned list. I will send the report about the food soon. Of course, if we find something, we will forward this to Chernihiv. I will arrange the transfer of pallets to Kharkiv. Kind regards, Mariia C”
“Greetings all, Great news that the Firefighter Safety and Suppression Equipment has reached the charity in Chernihiv (the Ukrainian Forest Safety Center)! Thank you so much to everyone involved in volunteering and donating to move this material from the USA to Ukraine. All the best, Dr. Brian Roth”
And finally this note from Tanya…
“Oh, Something’s wrong with my laptop. The screen turns very pale at times and I’m afraid there might be a problem with the display. 😟 Well, I’ve had it for about 2 and a half years and I think it’s a good term for a used laptop. Need to back up my files. Maybe you can look for an external hard drive. The one I have is so old and at times doesn’t respond as quickly and I always hold my breath. Well need to get busy. I’ve had all kinds of interruptions while writing this note. Have a great and blessed day, Tanya”
Here are photos from the Hillsboro loading at Healing Hands International (Nashville, TN). Some may be small because they were sent with a low resolution.
John L. Kachelman, Jr. Ukraine Missions, Dalraida Church of Christ, P.O. Box 3085, Montgomery, AL 36109
