Boxes of donated clothes head to Puerto Rico
Provided photo: Pat Haines of Waterport is pictured with a truck and driver from Mobile Air Transport which will take 20 boxes of donated clothes that are headed to Puerto Rico. The boxes will be flown to San Juan, and taken to the community of Moca, a town on the western side of Puerto Rico.
WATERPORT – The community donated numerous shirts, pants and other clothing items during an Oct. 29 fundraiser for a town in Puerto Rico.
Those clothing items were packaged in 20 boxes and on Monday they were picked up by a truck and driver from Mobile Air Transport. The boxes were flown from Rochester to JFK in New York City and then to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
From there, they will reach their final destination in the town of Moca in western Puerto Rico. The company, REI, is shipping the boxes at cost – $50 each.
Orchestrating the shipment of the boxes has been a hurdle in a local effort to assist a town that remains without electricity after Hurricane Maria hit the island in September.
The Carlton United Methodist Church hosted a fundraiser on Oct. 29 for a community in Puerto Rico, home of Betty Garcia Mathewson’s relatives. Garcia Mathewson lives in Albion and attends a yoga class led by Pat Haines. Haines also attends the Carlton United Methodst Church.
The church and yoga class put on the fundraiser that has raised $5,500. That money has paid for 80 solar powered emergency lights and 20 water filtration systems and extra filters, the $1,000 needed to ship the boxes of clothes, and $1,500 that was sent to a church to provide a Thanksgiving meal for the Moca community.
“It’s really impacting peoples’ lives,” Haines said this morning. “We far exceeded my expectations. It’s amazing what small group can do.”
The Centro Cristiano Nueva Vision – the New Vision Christian Center in Moca – is the distribution point for the donations. Garcia Mathewson’s cousin is a leader in that congregation.
People are still welcome to send checks to the Carlton United Methodist Church, 1196 Archbald Road, Waterport, NY 14571. If someone sends a check to the church, they should note “PR Fundraiser.” The church will then wire the funds to the New Vision Christian Center in Moca. Donors also are welcome to sponsor a box for $50.
