Regional Divisions
Indiana Spring 2009 Activity Report
The volunteers of the Indiana Division of Orphan Grain Train find themselves serving those in need closer to home these days as they reach out to those severely impacted by the distressed economy.
Eugene Wint, Division chairman, reports that the local unemployment rate has reached 15%—almost double the national average. The automotive manufacturing industry in Indiana has been particularly hard-hit.
“We are receiving more and more requests for all types of items to help families put their lives together,” he said. More than 20 charitable and service organizations that help people in legitimate need make referrals to the Division. Semi-loads of clothing and other items have gone to various locations within 300 miles of the warehouse located in Azalea in southern Indiana.
“We are looking for a source of food to supply local food banks,” said Wint. “The demand for food has doubled in the past six months,” he added.
The Division continues to provide furniture, appliances, kitchenware and various items to those who have repaired and remodeled their homes damaged by the flood in central Indiana last year. Wint explained that the Division has a close working relationship with the Columbus, Ind., office of the Red Cross, which presented the Division with one of 15 plaques given out in grateful appreciation for its service during the June 2008 flood.
As soon as funds allow, the Division will ship a container to Cambodia where Rev. Chuck Groth is serving on the mission field. The container is being sponsored by the Indiana District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod office in Fort Wayne. Several congregations contributed to its contents. Another semi load was recently sent to the Appalachian Mission of the Methodist Church in Beverly, Kentucky.
“God continues to offer us opportunities to serve our fellow man,” Wint concluded. “Our prayer is that He will continue to lead, guide and direct our work to fulfill our mission.”
“If a person having material possessions sees his brother in need, and does not share with him, where is the love of God in him?” (I John 3 v.17).
Indiana 2007 Activity Report
Indiana Regional Division closed out another big year in the amount of donated goods shipped out of the modest warehousing location between Seymour and Columbus, Indiana. In the past two months we have shipped a large volume of donated goods, both locally and to foreign countries.
Foreign shipments during November and December:
* A container of winter clothing and blankets to Armenia ;
* A container of clothing, school supplies, bicycles, sports equipment computers and bedding to Hyderabad, India.
Click here for Ghana relief shipment arrival - February 2007
Domestic shipments:
* A 53-food semi-trailer load of good-quality used furniture and appliances picked up in Tallmadge, Ohio and delivered to Camp Restore, New Orleans;
* A semi trailer of toys, stuffed animals, bicycles, sports equipment, clothing and blankets to Majestic, Kentucky that provided Christmas for the surrounding area near the West Virginia state line. The semi-trailer was left there for the community to use as a storage unit since they lost their storage building in a storm.;
* A semi load of school desks, white boards, folding chairs, 1 1/4 tons of food and other miscellaneous school supplies to Quemado, Texas for missions in the area;
* A semi load consisting of furniture, appliances, toys, household goods, clothing and school supplies was sent to Lutheran Social Services in Caldwell, Ohio for distribution in the area.
In addition, three local families who suffered loss due to fires were set up with all needed to go back to a normal way of life, which included clothing, furniture, appliances and toys. Also, five broken families were given goods of all kinds to help them through times of hardship and the holiday season.
Spring 2006
We shipped seven containers during the calendar year: one to Armenia; one to Guatemala; one to Tajikistan, two to India and two to Ghana.
We made 20-plus trips to the Katrina area, taking various types of donations to several locations.
We also made 20-plus trips to Southeastern Ohio, delivering to Mary Woodward, Director of Lutheran Charities of Southern Ohio. We delivered clothing, household and kitchen goods, appliances, bedding and related items. This will be an unending relationship to help this area with donations.
We continue to deliver to Majestic and Pikesville, Kentucky, and we also are taking goods to Louisa, Kentucky.
We make numerous deliveries to local people and organizations. People having fires, divorces, and other problems have received goods.
We estimate that we delivered over 175 tons of donated items including the food that was bought for the Katrina area. There were over 11,000 hours of donated time by nearly 1,000 different individuals that helped load and unload shipments. 100 different individuals made pickups and deliveries, driving over 40,000 miles, all in trucks owned by volunteers. We paid mileage or compensated for the out-of-pocket fuel charges. With the cost of fuel, that was a big expenditure.
The year 2006 started out where we left off. We are making trips to all the former locations and more are being added as needs arise.
We have added a pickup truck to our inventory - a 1998 Dodge 350 heavy-duty 3/4-ton with a Cummins. We thank God that He made this truck available to us. A volunteer who has spent several hours in the warehouse offered this truck to us at one half of the appraised value. We also have a 1975 Chevy delivery van, two cargo trailers - a 16ft. and an 18 ft., and one 48-ft. semi trailer that we have used for pick-up and delivery. There are 15 additional trailers that are used for storage of goods, both those needing sorting and packed and for goods awaiting shipment. We need more trailers.
We are currently using a building in Seymour, a big former hardware store that is approximately 12,000 sq. ft., whose use is donated until the owners either sell or rent the location.
We’re working on details to build a building for storage. This all takes time and does not go very fast. We will soon start a capital fund drive to cover our anticipated cost of a building. We hope to raise $50,000 to $60,000.
God has blessed this division very much; we have a lot of willing and entrusted people who are active in the work we do. Yes, we are constantly making pleas for sorters and packers. We are thankful for the ones we have but we can use many, many more.
We will be holding our annual vesper service-fish fry-annual meeting on Sunday, June 25 at our warehouse location.
One of the bigger projects that have been undertaken was the scrub-bucket project. We promoted a list of cleaning items that were needed to assist the people in Katrina area, and gave five-gallon buckets to people to take home and fill and bring back for us to take to Louisiana. To date, we have taken 3,500 buckets to locations in Louisiana. We have around 450 more ready to take down, plus the churches in the Evansville area are putting together 200 more which will be ready in a week. These have been a very popular item. We have received calls from many different groups asking for the filled buckets or how to get this project started. We have promoted this among several groups, both religious and some secular groups.
We have also promoted the “From Indiana Kids to Kids of the World” school student supply boxes. There were over 3,000 of these boxes put together. 400 were sent to Ghana and 200 to children in Eastern Kentucky. We are making plans to send a group of these boxes to schools in the Katrina-affected area and to Guatemala (the Spanish box version).
We have helped promote volunteers to go to Slidell and work. A member of the Friends congregation near our warehouse has made eight trips down to Louisiana, giving leadership and directing the work of several people that have volunteered. We sent a load of food supplies down to Bethany church that fed the volunteers that went down on their Spring Break (around 150 total) during the month of March. They have repaired many homes for people who did not qualify for any of the government programs.
We plan to make a trip to Slidell every two weeks or more often, taking down whatever supplies are needed. During the first week of April we took a 15-ft. cargo trailer a local person offered us to use for a storage unit at the Bethany location in Slidell.
A partial list of Indiana Regional Division hurricane relief loads shipped to the Gulf Coast in 14’, 16’, and 18’ trailers:
| Equipment/Material | Origin | Delivery Point | Delivery Date |
| House doors, shower & tub doors, plumbing supplies, cleaning supplies, brooms, mops and buckets | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 4/12/2006 |
| Paint, wallpaper, cleaning supplies, light bulbs, mops & brooms | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 3/25/2006 |
| Groceries | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 2/27/2006 |
| Cleaning materials, water,pampers, toiletry items | Seymour, Ind. | New Orleans, La. | 1/17/2006 |
| Water, food and cleaning supplies | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 11/8/2005 |
| Cleaning supplies and food | Seymour, Ind. | New Liberia, La. | 11/2/2005 |
| Cleaning supplies and food | Seymour, Ind. | Biloxi, Miss. | 10/13/2005 |
| Cleaning supplies | Seymour, Ind. | Biloxi, Miss. | 10/10/2005 |
| Cleaning supplies | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 10/7/2005 |
| Cleaning supplies | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 9/26/2005 |
| Cleaning supplies | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 9/20/2005 |
| Tool,building material | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 9/14/2005 |
| Motor home | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 9/11/2005 |
| Water,food and tools | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 9/11/2005 |
| Water,food and misc. | Seymour, Ind. | Gonzales, La. | 9/9/2005 |
| Water, food and clothing | Seymour, Ind. | Pensacola, Fla. | 9/8/2005 |
| Clothing and food | Seymour, Ind. | Covington & Baton Rouge, La. | 9/5/2005 |
| Food and Water | Seymour, Ind. | Slidell, La. | 9/4/2005 |