Last week, I spent some time with Esther and Sal (and Lori O.) at Global Samaritan. I had a bit of understanding before serving of what they do, but didn’t know to what extent.
Global Samaritan is an organization that fills many different roles, not only internationally, but also here locally in the Big Country. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the deliveries to Syria, Africa, etc., and maybe you’ve also heard of the SaveStraws they ship to countries that have unsafe drinking water. What I DIDN’T know, is that Global Samaritan helps out local organizations as well.
Global Samaritan is located on N.1st in the old Coca Cola plant, which was originally, ACU. They have thousands and thousands of square footage dedicated to warehousing space that is used to store donated items and food that will eventually make its way to a destination. When I arrived, Esther told me that we needed to pull a large number of items that a new, local clinic was in need of. This clinic will provide a great service to Abilene and the surrounding areas, but didn’t have the means to outfit the office with new furniture or medical equipment. This is where Global Samaritan steps in.
Staff of this new clinic came to Global Samaritan and tagged each item they could use. These items would be GIVEN by Global Samaritan to the clinic. For FREE. The picture below shows some of the items Sal and I pulled from the warehouse. These items are now ready for the clinic to come pick up.
This next picture is the desk/chair room. All of these have been donated by local organizations to Global Samaritan.
On my first morning, Hendrick Medical Center called and said they had bedside tables, bed trays, and chairs for donation. We took the big box truck and loaded it up.
I hope the video file below works. If you’ve ever worked in a warehouse type situation, you will understand the importance of shrink wrap. Pallets that are above a certain height, have a tendency to FALL if they aren’t shrink wrapped, and tightly, for that matter. For years, Global Samaritan had to hand shrink-wrap pallets. 12 foot pallets….. Imagine having to use four ladders around a single pallet. Esther was telling me in the past, it would take about an hour per pallet, and that on a good day, they could wrap about 4 pallets (they were worn out after 4). Automatic Pallet Wrappers… Ever heard of them? They are LEGIT! They had a shiny, new, automatic pallet wrapper on display for all to see. You may not know, but THE Funeral Directors Life, donated half of the funds to Global Samaritan to purchase this machine. As you could imagine, these things are EXPENSIVE… Esther and Sal thanked FDLIC so many times while we were there that I almost got tired of hearing it (joke).
We received a SEMI full of pallets from a church in San Angelo, with items that were to go to Jordan! There were bed sheets, coats, clothes, rice, beans, sanitation kits, etc., and the semi trailer was packed FULL of 24 pallets. Good news right? WRONG. The container going to Jordan could only fit 21 pallets. Esther, with her years of experience, said we needed to take these 3 pallets and “spread the wealth” amongst the other 21. This meant we would need to rebuild ALL 21 pallets. This is something that, before they acquired the new automatic shrink-wrap machine, would have been impossible and would have taken WEEKS. These pallets were ready to go in 2 days. See the video below: