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Volume 2, Issue 1 Newsletter of August 15, 1997
©
Assisting Refugees Throughout the World
Click on a specific topic or just read on.
Helen is giving a goat to a woman in Gradska, Bosnia-Herzegovina. She immediately milked the goat and fed her children.
There’s nothing like being there and handing out the supplies that the refugees so badly need. Whenever we go to Bosnia, we always include Gradska (that little village we’ve “adopted”) in our plans so we can check on the refugee families and tend to their needs. This time there was a new family with two children living there. Actually barely existing is a more accurate description of their situation. They had taken up residence in a house that was left abandoned during the war. As soon as we arrived, the people who greeted us directed us right to them because they urgently needed help. That’s how it is there, while the people are all in serious need, those with the greatest need come first. We gave this family one of your large boxes of food, a goat and a refrigerator, which will be shared with several families.
Goats are easy to maintain and they provide precious milk.
Immediately, the mother of the family milked the goat to feed her children. As we watched we had this incredible feeling of gratitude for you at home whose donations enabled us to be here doing this as an extension of your hands. If you were standing there with us in this little village, you would see the results of your generosity. The goats you bought last year have multiplied and are providing for even more families now. You would see the children playing with the soccer balls, the dolls and the wooden toys you sent to them, you would see the refrigerators, the stoves and the heaters that you bought for them and you would realize that you’ve really made a difference in their lives. There’s no telling what life in this village would be like today had they not received your help. They know that this help came from the people of Northern California and that you are a wonderful, caring and giving people.
By Helen S.
Life in Bosnia and Croatia has somewhat an air of hope. We saw people coming back to their shell-of-a-house and starting the long rebuilding process to put their home back together. They are so handicapped with a lack of tools and materials to work with. The food, utensils, baby furniture, chairs, tables and all you gave us to give them was deeply appreciated. As I helped give out your gifts to them, I thanked God for your generosity. You really made this possible. Thank you -- together we are One Family!
By Helen S.
A year ago when we visited the refugees in the train camp, a lady named Zora asked for my address. I gave it to her and for this past year we have exchanged letters. In June, I was able to go back to the train camp and see Zora again. It was a wonderful meeting. She has no family left and is resigned to life in the camp. She isn’t educated or trained to work but could do housework. So many people aren’t trained for work and jobs are so scarce. She has no hope for ever working due to her age and lack of education. She is 57 years old. I asked her what she wanted for herself. Her only reply was “I just want a friend, someone who cares. Just continue to write me.” The heat is so intense in the train camp that four people died this summer. Many others are trying to move out and into the European housing camp. Others are moving back to their bombed out houses to wait for help from the government. Zora wants out, but there is no where for her to go. So, day by day she sits, waits, dreams and lives a lonely existence - a victim of this brutal war.
One Family is still giving monthly assistance to three families in Bosnia One is an elderly couple which lost one child and had another child seriously crippled fighting in the war. They escaped the dangers of Eastern Bosnia to be homeless and destitute in a small village in the Western part of the country. Through your generosity, they have a stove, refrigerator and enough money to buy food each month. The other two families also had to leave their homes behind and fled with their children to safety in other parts of Bosnia. The fathers in both of these families have found part time work so our assistance is supplementary.
Your donations of food boxes and supplies being delivered to refugee families in Kistanje, Croatia.
When One Family was started two years ago we were responding to the horrors of the war in the former Yugoslavia countries. The abuse of families in places we had visited was something we couldn’t ignore. That was when Channel 7 News helped us collect a container full of blankets, sleeping bags and clothing and SkyNet International, helped us to take it over there so we could distribute it to those in need. That was the start and now we’ve just finished our 6th shipment - two since our last newsletter. The needs of the families are different now, but still just as urgent. We aren’t taking clothing, blankets and sleeping bags, we’re taking things that will help them rebuild and return to a more normal life. The container we shipped in May was so well received that we received a fax in July thanking us again for the help we are giving over there. The bicycles are being used every day for transportation. The two upright pianos are in a school in Posusje, Croatia being used as therapy for children emotionally scarred by the war. The dishes and pots and pans have been divided among many families and are greatly appreciated. These were things that were just taking up space in our homes and now they have a new productive life helping the people in Bosnia and Croatia. As we prepare for the next shipment, please look around your garages and attics to see if you have a bicycle or dishes, a piano or a guitar, baby items or anything else in very good condition that could be used to help the refugee families. Please ask your family and friends to do the same and call us when you come up with something to send.
If each of you, who receives this newsletter, identifies just one item to send in November and asks a friend to do the same, we will be able to fill another container and continue helping these wonderful families.
Contents of the last two Containers!
We were also able to give $1,800 in support directly to families by purchasing goats, refrigerators and food for them. The total weight in these two containers was 26,750 pounds.
On our last trip we took a School Supply Catalog with us so teachers there could visually identify the items they needed. One Bosnian teacher told us that “These are the kinds of things we can only dream about getting.” With special thank you to St. Catherine’s School in Morgan Hill, and to several donors for funding this effort, we have placed a sizeable order. We’ll take these supplies to them in the next shipment.
Over these past two years, One Family has served as a link between families in Northern California and the most needy refugee families we could find in Bosnia and Croatia. Everything that we’ve delivered has come from donations. We couldn’t do any of this without each of you. We feel that you still have an interest in helping the refugees get back on their feet so we are planning another shipment in November. Since the May shipment was so successful, we are hoping to fill this next container with more of the same items. The following are some of the things we are looking for (please feel free to suggest others): Family Food Boxes (Flour, oil, pasta, pasta sauce, canned fruits & vegetables, peanut butter, jelly, sugar, salt, rice, powdered milk, coffee, tea, vitamins, cookies, candy, tooth brushes & tooth paste, etc.) Avoid glass containers. Estimate quantity to provide several meals for a family of 6 people. Food without gluten. Baby items (food, chairs, strollers, beds) Disposable and cloth Diapers (all sizes) Powdered Soap for washing clothes Items for Personal Hygiene (like soaps, shampoos, tooth brushes, tooth paste) New Underwear (all sizes, esp. large) Sewing Machines in good working order Dishes and silverware in good condition. Pots, Pans and cooking utensils in like- new condition School classroom supplies (blackboards, chalk & erasers, paper, scissors, pencils) Coloring Books & Crayons Musical Instruments (all kinds including large items like pianos, organs etc.) Bicycles in good working order (all sizes) Sports Equipment (soccer equipment, basketball equipment, etc.) Toys (frisbees, balls, barbie dolls, stuffed animals, tricycles, wagons, blocks etc.) Vitamins (children & adult - Must not be past or even close to expiration date) Medical Equipment (blood pressure, stethoscopes, wheel chairs, crutches, lab equip., hospital beds, dental equip., etc.) Medical Supplies (Bandages, soaps, etc.) Medications (Antibiotics, Asthma, Blood Pressure, Heart, First Aid & snake bite kits, etc.) (Medicines must not be past or even close to expiration date) Financial Assistance for shipping and to purchase: goats, stoves, refrigerators, heaters, food, school items.
Channel 7 News
Progressive Marketing
California Movers Express
and all of you
We continue to be blessed with just the right help when we need it. As soon as the October container left, we started working on the May 1997 shipment. Since the One Family story wasn’t in the news, we had to try a different approach to get the message out. Progressive Marketing, a marketing agency with an office in San Francisco, volunteered many hours of time organizing an advertising campaign to place posters all over San Francisco. They were great to work with. In April, we were still far short of enough donations to fill a container, so Channel 7 News put the story on the air once again. It was like September 1995 all over again, the phone just kept ringing with hundreds of offers. As you read the articles in this newsletter, you can see that this container really made a difference. Your donations touched a lot of refugee families. Thank you, all of you who responded to this call so generously. Thank you once again Channel 7 News for your continuing support for the people of Bosnia and Croatia. Thank you Progressive Marketing for the countless hours you worked on the advertising campaign. And also thank you to the wonderful people at California Movers Express for continuing to store donations for us as we gathered items to ship and for putting up with us as we used their parking lot to pack our containers.
We are still working without a place to collect, sort and pack your donations. The donations for the last two containers were collected at drop-off points and then taken directly to the container, packed and sent. This doesn’t give you enough opportunities to gather and deliver your donations, and it severely limits our ability to sort, repair, pack and make sure that we have enough to fill the container before it goes. We really need space where we can prepare these shipments. If you have space or know anyone who would be willing to let us use about 1,500 sq. ft. of space for 3 months, please call us as soon as possible.