Q: What weighs 350 pounds, takes up 575 cubic feet in volume, is brown plastic on the outside, and Khaki, light blue, and navy on the inside?
A: A shipment of recycled uniforms, courtesy of the Lovett School and The Uniform Project, for the school children of the EcoVillages School.
Problem: The students of the EcoVillage school had no uniforms their first year. In Haiti, it is customary for school children to wear uniforms. For the upcoming school year, they anticipate growing from 50 students to approximately 150 students. That is a LOT of uniforms!
They would ideally like the uniforms to be made there but they do not yet have the resources.
Solution: Thanks to a lead by NDPC member Martha Osborne, we discovered The Uniform Project, http://www.theuniformproject.org/, a nonprofit that recycles uniforms. After showing sample uniforms to Verona Val and the School Principal in April, we agreed to donate pants, shorts, and skirts for the bottom of their uniforms, and that the families and MPP would sew unique uniform tops. In addition, the students can wear the recycled uniform knit tops on Fridays. The Lovett School has a Recycled Uniform Shop that donated 80% of the recycled uniforms for our school.
Problem: How do we get these 6 huge, heavy contractor bags filled with uniforms to Haiti in time for school to begin?
Solution: Our friend Wendy Flick, Senior Program Leader for the Unitarian Universalists, spoke with a friend, Shawn Davidson in Sarasota, Florida, who was shipping stoves down to Haiti in July, and agreed to include the uniforms in his shipping container.
Problem: How do we get these uniforms to Sarasota?
Solution: Becky and David Evans were planning a trip to Cape Coral, Florida, and to Cocoa Beach. They offered to drive the uniforms down to Sarasota, a short distance from Cape Coral.
Problem: Shawn is on vacation when Becky and David are in Florida.
Solution: Wendy helps come up with a Plan B, where Shawn shares his garage access code with Becky over email, and the uniforms are successfully dropped off in the garage in Sarasota on June 9!
Praise God for conversations, collaboration, trust, and problem solving! And pray for this uniform shipment to make it safely into MPP's hands, and on to the students and staff!