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 A Pipeline of Resources – In 1993, Vine’s first step was to learn the key to providing resources to medical missions in Central America – a simple distribution system. From our U.S. Collection Center in Knoxville, TN, aid is received, consolidated, & shipped by ocean containers to our Distribution Center in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. From there the aid is donated & distributed to clinics, hospital, medical workers, missionaries, churches, & orphanages. Vine has served in every country of this region because of disaster situations & our long-term vision is to duplicate this concept in other countries. But our next steps were to learn to serve one country well – Guatemala.
With key staff managing our facilities at both ends of the pipeline, Vine has joined a network of volunteers & co-workers developing the work throughout the country. We continue to increase the aid levels we ship & distribute to about 100 projects.
The concept is to strengthen geographically strategic mission hospitals supporting a regional circle of rural medical clinics with a greater level of healthcare. Over the years, we’ve been inspired as this has developed in many areas of Guatemala & Vine’s call is to keep taking part by solidifying the network with aid & resources - helping projects get more productive & even completed.
 What this diagram doesn’t show are the millions struggling with poverty & an inadequate health-care system - where most medical treatment is preventable. But if this is the “end-goal” of our plan, we may have done well physically, but we’ve missed the mark. Those working in this world through medical missions know that meeting a physical need leads to something greater – the right to be heard about deeper spiritual needs. As the poor discover the love of the Great Physician, they can come to understand that each person has great worth to God - enabling them to be raised spiritually above even life’s difficult circumstances.
The reality is that this vision is brought to fruition through people who invest resources. Vine’s staff, volunteers, & co-workers, working daily, are simply their hands & feet – meaning the reason we seek your help is because each step is growth. Not only will it increase the effectiveness of our work in the U.S., but it will mean even more to those we can better serve in Central America – those dedicated to serving the poor & demonstrating God’s compassion.
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