On Thursday, July 6th, 2000, David Maynes (husband of Scarborough Rotarian Dale Maynes) left his home at 5:30 a.m., to pick up Finton Kilbride of the Toronto Leaside Rotary Club. They then headed out to Detroit in a Ryder rental truck.

They arrived in Detroit, Michigan around 11:30 a.m. to pick-up and load 50 boxes (which weighted in at 2136 lbs) of medicine, medical supplies and medical equipment. These supplies were valued at a grand total of US$92,418.22, broken-down as follows: Medicine $51,858.22 / Equipment $3,000.00 / Supplies $37,560.00. The total cost to our Scarborough club was US$2,909.71.

With only a 1-hour delay at the border for the completion of some paperwork, the next stop was St. Catherines, Ontario. Here they picked up an additional 27 wheelchairs, 79 pairs of crutches, several walkers and walking canes.

The truck finally rolled into Toronto's Pearson International Airport at 9:30 p.m. With the help of Dale and David's son, Dion and two friends, Grace and Charles Roberts, we were able to off-load the truck.

An additional 34 boxes had been previously stored at Pearson International, ready to be included in this shipment. These were filled with patient and doctor's gowns along with hospital linens. All pieces were counted, sorted, weighed and packed into 3 gigantic containers. These items along with those from St. Catherines have been estimated at another US$30,000.00, for a grand total of more than US$120,000.

We finally left the airport at 2:00 a.m., dropped off the rental unit and made it home by 3:00 a.m.

Our local connection, The Rotary Club of Diego Martin, Trinidad was contacted on Friday morning and they immediately faxed us the Customs forms for completion. All 3 containers were sent via Air Canada- FREE OF CHARGE - to Trinidad on Friday July 7th.

Dale and David Maynes visited Trinidad in November (2000) to do some follow-up. They met with Clive Pantin, the Chief Executive Officer of FEEL (Foundation for the Enhancement and Enrichment of Life) and Mark Camino, an International Committee member of the Diego Martin Rotary Club, FEEL member and also Director of Sales at IBM in Trinidad. They heard how FEEL had catalogued and distributed the supplies to local hospitals and needy families. They also found that there are still considerable opportunities for new projects in other areas.

What a project!!! It is a great feeling to have the shipment delivered and have all those supplies put to good use!!!

YOURS IN ROTARY,
Dale Maynes