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From Surplus to Big Plus |
by Don Lathrop
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
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
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