Many hands make short work of loading container for Mission of Hope

BY SUZANNE MOORE, News Editor, Press Republican
PLATTSBURGH — With the help of 48 volunteers, North Country Mission of Hope loaded 22,660 pounds of medical equipment, school supplies, and other goods into a 40-foot container to ship to Nicaragua.
That shipment is on its way, Executive Director Sister Debbie Blow said, expressing delight and appreciation for all the help, which included two teachers and 14 students from Northern Adirondack Central School. This container, which also holds more than 20 hospital beds and cost about $9,000 to ship, is expected to reach the Central American country in early February. So the next large mission group, set to be on the ground Feb. 16 through 23, will invest some of its time distributing the newly arrived items, as well as other goods from another container sent to Nicaragua this year, Blow said.
Also arriving about that time will be a container stuffed with 277,995 meals from Stop Hunger Now that will be served at at least seven schools supported by Mission of Hope (MOH). It is also bringing 3,000 dresses awarded from Little Dresses for Africa and 2,600 bars of soap from Clean the World. That soap, said Mission of Hope grant writer and volunteer Carol Herring, is actually big chunks, melted down from the little bars left in hotel rooms. Mission of Hope has to assume the cost for shipments of donated meals.
MOH is funded by donations and grants, with 97 percent going directly to programs in Nicaragua, 1 percent for fundraising expenses and 2 percent for administration, according to the Plattsburgh-based organization’s website. Learn more at ncmissionofhope.org.

This story originally appeared in the
December 16th, 2015 print edition of the Press Republican.