Last year I got a call from a family who said, "We're giving a boat for a boat."

I asked what they meant, and they explained that they had decided to sell their ski boat. The kids didn’t use it much anymore, and they thought that money could be put to better use. So they sold the boat, and with the proceeds they sponsored an entire 40’ container - the medical supplies, the shipping, the importing, the taxes, everything. Our containers arrive in Guatemala on cargo ships, so: a Boat for a Boat.

Some of the most important boxes in the pickup truck in this picture came on that container. We don’t usually have many burn dressings in our warehouse in Guatemala, but this week, when the Fuego volcano erupted and buried entire communities, we had these. DeRoyal Industries had donated a significant supply of burn and wound dressings to us, and the Boat for a Boat container got them to our warehouse. The pickup in the photo is the supply truck for a firefighter/EMT unit that is currently deployed in the disaster circle around the Fuego volcano. Vine’s Dennis and Cindy McCutcheon have a long relationship with the unit, and were able to supply them with 25 cases of masks, those DeRoyal burn dressings, antiseptic wipes, zinc oxide tape, and all the alcohol swabs we had in the warehouse. We keep a few cases of bottled water in the warehouse for when the work gets sweaty, but Cindy thought they would better off in the hands of her neighbors, the rescuers on the mountain.

Somehow, Dennis and Cindy are also buying supplies in Guatemala and preparing recovery kits for families and ministries who will have to return to damaged and destroyed communities in the coming weeks. Your regular giving (like the Boat for a Boat!) has made immediate relief supplies available to the guys who are wading through ash right now, finding and treating victims. Any donations you mark “volcano” will go to help the recovery work in the days to come. Thanks.

Thanks for thinking of Guatemalans in need.

Brady
Vine International