Container to Nauru ... and another to Kiribati

Post date: Jul 11, 2013 11:43:20 PM

2013 Container #4

*** UPDATE 02 AUGUST 2013 ***Dear Friends,

August greetings! We hope you're well and enjoying the lovely weather.

Some good news to begin with: the fourth container, filled with an assortment of items including desks and chairs to fill four classrooms, was picked up on Monday and is now on its way to Kiribati.

So our container appeal has come to a temporary close. This little project began around Ash Wednesday and in a short space of time we have managed to send four containers to our brothers and sisters in the Pacific. A wonderful effort by the Mission Office, all the donors including the schools and surrounding Parishes AND the commitment and effort of the fabulous members of FKM. Congratulations to all!

Enjoy the rest of your week and look forward to seeing you all on Saturday.

Blessings,

FKM

***UPDATE 16 JULY 2013***

Dear Friends

A great big 'thank you' to those who attended on Saturday to complete the job from last week. The container was filled comfortably and loaded onto a truck - on it's way to a new school providing education and hope for the children of Nauru.

We have also received our next container, and as you can see from the attached photo it is two-thirds filled already thanks to OLSH Primary School. All we need to do next week is to better stack the contents to make more space. We should be able to fill it quite comfortably but we do need more donations to make this happen - please continue to spread the word.

So we are now up to container #4 (3 to Kiribati, 1 to Nauru) - a phenomenal effort by a small group of committed people from our surrounding parishes. But let us be mindful that we are very much part of a larger 'collective'. This project would not be possible without the donations from the various schools and multitude of parishioners, and the funds provided by the Mission Office to ship the container. A wonderful team effort.

Thank you for your continued support and look forward to seeing you next Saturday.

Blessings in abundance,

FKM

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Following the two containers that have been send to Kiribati with many excellent donated items, a container is now being prepared for shipping to Nauru. In particular, this shipment will have much needed new furniture and equipment to upgrade the facilities in the school, where we have already committed a separate project for new building and upgrade works.

Below is a letter from the Friends of Kensington Monastery volunteers who have been doing a marvellous job packing and cataloging the containers.

Dear Friends,

Thank you for the great turn out last week.

We managed to almost fill an entire container in a day - a phenomenal effort!

The container is filled with items to set up a school - not only for the students but for the teachers as well. We even included executive desks for the bosses!

No doubting the exceptional team work and commitment of FKM.

The latest is that the freight forwarder will come and collect the Nauru container at midday this Saturday - more than enough time for us to fill the remaining space.

The truck will not only pick up the container but will drop off another at the same time. A removalist has been organised to bring desks and chairs donated by OLSH Primary School (thank you Natius & Bernadette) later in the afternoon (approx. 3pm). They will unload the desks and chairs straight into the container so all we have to do the following week is stack them up nicely. Easy!

So if you have time, please come along at the usual time of 10am.

Blessings,

FKM

Some of the items required and sent

Educational:

- white boards

- library books (targeting children and teenagers, not so much novels)

- pencils, coloured pencils, pens, textas, note pads, (any general stationary)

- Computers (working condition - laptops welcome)

- printers

- Games (board games, teaching aides, education material)

- Chairs and stools

- religious/theological books

- religious icons

- sporting equipment (balls, boots etc - popular sports: soccer and volley ball)

- school & sport uniforms (new)

Children:

- toys

- clothing (new)

- nappies (new)

Adults:

- fabric (new)

- clocks/watches

- spectacles

- sunglasses

- clothing (new)

- musical instruments (any)

General:

- chairs (ideally plastic and stackable)

- folding tables

- bicycles

- motor bikes (yes, we are serious!)

- lawn mowers

- beds/mattresses (preferably new, especially for mattress; inflatable mattresses)

- sewing machines

- fishing nets

- basins

- tea pots (large)

- mosquito nets

- towels and sheets (new)

- urns/thermos flasks

- tarpaulins

- wheel barrows/hand carts

- fencing wire

- rubbish bins

- cabinets; filing, storage

- cutlery (any)

- crockery (any)

- beds for priests (preferably new)

- carpentry tools

- paper binding machine

- paper guillotine

- microwave ovens (clean and in working order)

Medical equipment

- wheel chairs

- walking frames

- crutches

- commode chairs