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From Surplus to Big Plus
 What
do three schools in Berkshire County Massachusetts have to do with a
Chiquita Banana truck? And what does all that have to do with Guaimaca,
Honduras?
It all started several years ago when Eddie and Kelly
O’Toole returned to Honduras where they had spent their Peace Corps
years and developed a plan to start a school in Guaimaca, a town of
several thousand people. In due course the school opened, but found
itself short of supplies, furniture and equipment. As luck would have
it, last summer the three schools in Massachusetts consolidated into two
new buildings with new furnishings and equipment. Eddie became aware of
the consolidation and immediately envisioned the soon to be discarded
material in his school in Guaimaca. However, it was immediately apparent
that the liberated equipment would not only fill the needs of Eddie and
Kelly’s school, but those of many others in Honduras.
Although the consolidated schools were happy to give
away their surplus items, their transport to Honduras and distribution
in that country remained obstacles to the success of the plan. However,
Eddie learned that the Chiquita Banana trucks, which deliver fresh
bananas from Honduras to New England daily, often return empty for the
next load and that for $3,200 the banana company would transport, in an
otherwise empty 40-foot truck, as many school supplies as could be
crammed in. Eddie contacted a Catholic nun who runs a Honduran education
system for thousands of students, and brokered deal. The nun raised the
$3,200 and arranged for distribution of the surplus material to many
schools, which of course included Eddie’s.
Soon, many volunteers found themselves loading more
than 100 desks, dozens of microscopes, computers, black boards, file
cabinets, tables and chairs, bicycles, sports and medical equipment, and
more, onto a Chiquita Banana truck. After that, the Massachusetts school
officials came up with another $3,200 for a second load and a third load
was sent as a charitable donation at half cost. Hence, a simple way has
been discovered to put surplus material to use in developing countries,
no doubt a feat that could be duplicated using other empty trucks from
other corporations and nations.
Contact:
eddieoto@eddieotoole.org
by Don Lathrop
First Published in Positive News US Edition Winter 2006/2007 Issue.
This is one of many stories available from Positive News newspaper. For more stories like this please visit:
www.positivenews.org.uk
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.) |
