Since we last spoke, Trish and Allen made it to Colorado, where they picked up 700 filled backpacks. They picked up backpacks from two churches in Kansas, and then it was time to turn in their 16-ft Penske truck. They unloaded the truck’s contents into a storage area near Wichita and then rented a 26-ft truck. They headed back to the storage area and reloaded all of the precious cargo onto the larger truck. According to my sketchy notes, they then went to Indianapolis, to collect more backpacks. (Well, actually, according to my sketchy notes, they went to “indianapolic,” but I’m pretty sure that was a typo!)
Trish was able to attend a women’s retreat for a couple of days, in Columbus, Ohio. While there, she was able to share her kidnapping story. Because, let’s face it; if you’ve got a kidnapping story, you should probably share it.
She and Allen looked at their growing cargo and pondered if they should make a detour to drop things off in Maryland and then return to Ohio to finish their collection trip. They decided against it, thinking they might be able to fit everything into the honkin’ big truck. After that, they went to Sugarcreek, Ohio to pick up more backpacks and food donations. It was about then that they looked at the honkin’ big truck and realized it was not honkin’ big enough to meet their needs. Still, they headed off to Somewhere, Pennsylvania to pick up more donations. Trish said, “The truck was groaning!”
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| His and Hers trucks, at Fredericktowne Baptist Church in MD |
That’s when they stopped and picked up an additional 16-ft-truck for Trish to drive. I ask you, is there anything more romantic than his and hers Penske trucks? They finished the convoy in Maryland. After a night’s rest, they unloaded the larger of the two trucks (his). A lot of the boxes were not full enough. When boxes have air space, they get crushed when stacked. So, they and a small crew of Maryland friends took time to stuff the boxes with used clothing to fill in the chinks.
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| Boxes full of backpacks, crushed under the weight of other boxes! This is before we stuffed used clothing into the spaces between the backpacks. |
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| Maryland friends helping us stuff the boxes! |
That evening, Allen and Trish took the smaller truck (hers) to Lighthouse Church, where they picked up another 125 boxes of backpacks! They took those back to where the rest of the collected items were stored. The following day, they took the boxes which hadn’t been processed and stuffed them full with more backpacks and used clothing. All total, they were able to eliminate 80 boxes and 100 big bags of clothing by consolidating the contents into fewer boxes - which is good because they had collected more donations than will fit into the shipping container!
When we spoke on Wednesday (Oct 10), Allen and Trish were beginning their trip south. Instead of a car, they rented another 16-ft truck. (Those crazy, romantic kids are sharing a truck this time.) They are loaded up with the overflow of donations, that can't be shipped from MD to Honduras, with them. Hopefully there will be room for those boxes in the container shipping from Florida! On the trip, they will be picking up more boxes of backpacks in Virginia and in Georgia. I skipped the part where they spoke at a Christian elementary school, on the morning of our phone call. I probably skipped a lot of stuff, but…
They are now on their way to Atlanta and have set a collision course with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Michael. While Michael won’t be a hurricane when they catch up with him, they are anticipating a lot of rain. Well, look at that! A hurricane and rain ties in perfectly with that weatherman referenced in the first paragraph. Who needs notes? This stuff writes itself!
- posted by Christi
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