In This Issue:
Every year, you and thousands of volunteers share their skills to support our work throughout the world. Many of you spend your time in the "brown floors" and "gray floors" of our Distribution Centers sorting and packing medicines and supplies and with your help, we were able to ship over $133 million in medicines and supplies to 66 countries to help more than 1.8 million people worldwide. Here at home, these same volunteers allowed us to deliver personal hygiene and medical items to 70 social services agencies in the Northwest. In the next few months, we'll be able to mobilize additional humanitarian aid through purchases of the "Girl Power", "Malaria Net and Medicines" and "Lifesaving Medicines and Equipment" items in our 2012 Gift Catalog, available at www.medicalteams.org/gifts. Would you like to help us? Share your volunteer story with your family and friends and encourage them to consider including our gift catalog in their holiday giving. Click on the icons on the left side to easily share our catalog on Facebook, Twitter and more. By Jessi Fink, Special Events Intern Are all the candles lit on the tables? Are all the bidding sheets out? Does everyone know their job? It was almost time for the doors to open to the 7th annual Great Adventure Auction on Saturday, October 13th and everything looked ready! The previous weeks, and especially the last couple days, had been crazy as everything came together. The night was finally here. The Distribution Center, where medical supplies are stored, sorted and shipped, had been transformed into a beautiful dining hall. Elegant orchids adorned each table. Flickering candles gave the hall a warm glow. The home of the mobile dental vans had been converted into an elegant silent auction area. Bottles glistened under the light and original artwork graced the walls. The sporty silver Lexus adorning one corner looked ready for a driver. The stage stood ready to host the auctioneer, the CEO and the Master of Ceremonies. I thought, What an adventure it has been to get here! Adventure? It dawned on me that the word adventure was all around me -- this was the Great Adventure Auction after all! As the evening unfolded, I continued to see just how appropriate the name “Great Adventure” was for this event. To read the full story, visit www.medicalteams.org/what_we_do/events/great_adventure_2012/volunteer/a-truly-great-adventure. On the first day of fall 2012, 50 Microsoft employees came over to our Washington office located in the Mike and Kathy Holmgren Center in Redmond. Wearing shirts that said “Boom!”, “Booyah!”, “Kapow!” and other “sound” shirts, these volunteers came in with, well, a bang, and donated a cumulative amount of 250 hours for the 2012 United Way Day of Caring! They sorted our medicines and supplies to get it ready for shipment all over the world, helped us finish some painting and cleaning projects all around our building and even helped us do some prep work for the 14th annual Field of Dreams Auction slated for June 2013. Thank you, Microsoft! We had a great time serving with you. If you are looking for group volunteering opportunities in Oregon, Washington and Michigan, please connect with Karrie Hamilton, Volunteer Manager at khamilton@medicalteams.org or through (503) 624-1000. Our Washington office is in need of medical supplies sorters for our Distribution Center located at the Mike and Kathy Holmgren Center, 9680 153rd Ave NE, Redmond, WA. We also would love to have the help of truck drivers to make local pickups of health and medical supply donations. Volunteers will also be needed to drive truckloads of sorted medical supplies from Redmond, WA to our International HQ in Tigard, OR. No commercial driver’s license is necessary. For further information, please connect with Beth Weibling
at bweibling@medicalteams.org or through (425) 454-8326. Bring your talent to parts of the world that have a great need for them. Here are some of our urgent volunteer needs: CAMEROON A general surgeon is needed to work alongside residents and other hospital staff at Mbingo Baptist Hospital near Bamenda, Cameroon. Travel dates are flexible November 2012 through January 2013. HONDURAS One general radiologist and one radiology tech are requested to work with PREDISAN, our partner in Honduras. Volunteers will train local personnel in the interpretation and technique of performing breast ultrasounds and x-rays. Trip lasts between 7 – 10 days and dates are flexible November 2012 through June 2013. LIBERIA Trinity Dental Clinic in Monrovia needs dentists to provide clinical services and hygiene education at their main location and in rural clinics throughout Liberia. The volunteers may also be requested to provide informal training to local dental assistants and community health educators. Mission will run for 2 – 3 weeks and timing is based on the team members’ schedules. SOUTH SUDAN Certified nurse midwives are needed to assist our partner, SIM Doro Clinic, in establishing a new maternal-neonatal unit in a high-risk healthcare area with serving refugees and members of the remote rural communities. Volunteers are needed to serve for 3 – 4 weeks in January 2013. UGANDA Our field office in SW Uganda needs the help of dental teams (composed of at least one dentist, one oral surgeon and two dental assistants) to provide services and preventive education to community members who do not have access to dental care. Volunteers will also help build the capacity of local care providers in dental treatment and preventive education. Volunteers are needed to serve for 2 weeks in February 2013. Please contact Brenda Porter at bporter@medicalteams.org or through 503.624.1020 for more information. For a complete list of international volunteer opportunities, please visit www.medicalteams.org/IntVolunteer. We love to receive your volunteer stories and photos! If you volunteered in the past year and have a photograph or story to share, please e-mail it to Chiqui Flowers at cflowers@medicalteams.org. Thank you, volunteers! Do you have family or friends who would like to receive this e-newsletter? If so, please forward this message on or ask them to visit www.medicalteams.org/signup. |