1st Shipment to the Philippines

Oh my Goodness, I'm so excited.

Okay so since the typhoon hit the Philippines, I have wanted to do something for the people there that were devastated by the storm.  I put the word out that I was collecting donations of clothing (any age) and hygiene items.  I put an article in the school announcements and made an announcement at church.  The support has been wonderful.

Every day people have been contacting me asking what they can donate and where to take it.  It's so wonderful.  Today I met Gail Cavanah and together we drove up to Columbus, IN to deliver our first shipment of boxes to go to the Philippines.  It was a bit of a mishap trip - totally my fault - but it all worked out in the end.

Okay, so the story unfolds.  I learned of a shipping business that ships directly to the Philippines, called LBC Shipment.  I looked them up on the website and found the closest office was in Columbus, IN.  The drive is approximately 1 hour and a half north of Louisville, but it's worth it.  I totally imagined it was a business like UPS and that we could just drive up, hand over the boxes and money and they would be on their way ... but it wasn't like that at all.  To our utter surprise we found that the address took us to a residential neighborhood.  "Can this be right?" we thought.  I called the number for the location and sure enough, it was the right location, however, the lady that runs it, Rovi Beck was in Chicago.  UGH!!!  No really - it all worked out.  She told us we could leave the boxes on her driveway and that she would pack them up in LBC boxes for us, and would let us know the cost later (she gave us an estimate) - can you believe that - so trusting and helpful.  We left the boxes, addresses and contact information on the driveway and then turned around and headed back to Louisville.  I'm sure Gail thought I was crazy for trusting someone I've never met but it didn't bother me at all.  I knew this was all OKAY!  We were on the Lord's errand and it would turn out great. 

And it did.  A day later, Rovi contacted me with the cost.  I deposited the money in the LBC bank account and off the boxes went to the Philippines.  It turned out to be 3 HUGE meter size boxes that went.  I feel so good!  I'm so excited.  I can't wait for the boxes to arrive there and spread the joy of clean clothes and other items with them.