- Amanda McKinney
Packing Underway!!!


What a Crazy Weekend!!! But man, was it awesome!!! Friday, with the help of my best friend Colleen, I unpacked, went through, & sorted all the donations in boxes that we had received thus far. I also sorted most of my personal stuff that I will be sending to Pucallpa.
Then on Saturday, with the help of many friends, we got all the donations and my personal stuff packed in boxes with itemized lists for each box and labeled! My dad was also awesome and recruited a bunch of guys to organze all the medical equipment that had been donated thus far! They took everything out of the shed, sorted it, checked each item for missing screws, parts, etc., counted them, saran wrapped walkers and crutches together, and packed it all back in the shed! Soo much work was put in by soo many people!!! Thank You!!!!
Now, for the info you are all waiting for.... here is our current count of donated equipment:
Adult & Child Walkers - 36
Adult/Child Wheelchairs - 12
Infant/Toddler Wheelchairs - 2
Crutches - 24 Pairs
Infant/Toddler Medical High Chairs - 2
Infant/Child Gurneys - 3
Strollers - 2
Tumble Tri-Stander - 2
Wooden Wheelchairs - 1
Tumble Ready Racer - 1(its a foam "car" that a child can sit in and be pushed around)
There are also currently 42 packed boxes of stuff!(a mix of my personal stuff and donations)
PRAISE THE LORD for His overwhelmingly awesome work!!!! But notice I said "our current count?" We can still take more!! Keep looking out & asking around for more equipment! This is the perfect time to donate items before the end of the year!
Would like some ideas of what else would be really helpful to donate? More wheelchairs, etc. are always welcome, but look at the list below with links for ideas! We haven't had ANY collapsible white canes for the blind kids donated! Neither have any Perkins Braillers or slates/stylus' for writing braille manually! Click on the links below for ideas of where these can be purchased. :-)
For Collapsible White canes for the blind - roughly $30/each
http://www.advantage-canes.com/
The Perkins Brailler is about $775 new http://www.perkinsproducts.org/store/en/braillers/210-classic-perkins-brailler.html
You can get them on ebay for about $100-$150. See link for example. However, we don't know the working condition of these.
www.ebay.com/itm/like/262117600092?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82
You can also get "fully restored' braillers on ebay for $300 http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/272033772049?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82
Here is another nice brailler on Amazon
It would be nice to also send braille paper. They currently get by using construction paper http://www.perkinsproducts.org/store/en/37-paper-carrying-cases
The slate and stylus (for manual braille) are nice for them to have too. These are cheap. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=slate+and+stylus
God has been soooo amazing working through all of you to be able to have all these items to bless The Refuge of Hope! Keep praying!!! I found out yesterday of 5-10 more walkers & wheelchairs collected by a church in St. Petersburg, Florida, but we need to figure out a way to get them up here to Stafford! God will make it happen, but we are waiting and praying to see how He is going to do it.
Thank You all again for your continued prayer and support! Keep praying for my finances too! I still have $270/month left to raise! With God all things are possible!!!!