Longtime MedShare volunteer Jack Horvath tapes boxes of medical supplies packed by other volunteers. These boxes will be sent to hospitals in need around the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BjIjV4Kze0

Does this inspire you to volunteer? Click here to sign up – we’d love to have you!

Nanetta (front, center) at a 2011 container shipment ceremony

“Nanetta Pon has volunteered with us 60 times (that’s 180 hours!) since she first started in April 2009 when she was only 14 or 15 years old. She has the most hours of any of our volunteers under age 18. She volunteers out of her own motivation; not because she has to fulfill some community service requirement.

We enjoy working with Nanetta. She is willing to do anything we ask and she works hard during the time she’s here. It is impressive that she keeps coming back when I know she has a very busy schedule with high school and other outside activities.” – Terry Monday, Volunteer Programs Manager

Name: Nanetta Pon

Age and Occupation: Seventeen-year-old high school student

Hometown: Fremont, California

Please describe yourself in one sentence.I like to get involved in great causes.

When did you first hear about MedShare? I found it while searching on VolunteerMatch for opportunities open to teenagers.

How would you describe your volunteer experience at MedShare? Wonderful! The volunteer coordinators and other volunteers are always welcoming, sorting is fun, and I learn something new about medical procedures every time.

How long have you been volunteering at MedShare? Since 2009

What inspired you to get involved? I’d been involved in my school’s recycling program, so it was MedShare’s environmental side that first interested me. I liked the idea of keeping supplies out of landfills. It was only after I’d started volunteering that I realized how much it was helping save people’s lives.

What is it that motivates you to keep volunteering at MedShare? MedShare is great about letting each volunteer know that he/she is making a difference, from the flags to the pictures to the stories people come in to tell. They keep me inspired to keep coming to the warehouse.

Have you been involved with MedShare in other ways besides sorting supplies? If so, please explain. This is more about MedShare helping me out: Last year I received a giant box of old, unsortable gloves to bring to my school. We’re still using them during our weekly sort of the school’s bottles and cans.

What has been your favorite MedShare moment or story during your time serving with us? After the iPad came out, one of the sorters accidentally got our table excited over a box of eye pads.

This story is an excerpt from our January e-news. To read more – including a story of fate’s role in a Haiti container delivery and a college MedTeam in Honduras – click here.

MedShare Made 2nd Shipment of Medical Aid

On the 17th of January 2012, award-winning charity MedShare shipped a 40-foot ocean container of medical supplies and equipment designated for the two island groups of Niuatoputapu and ‘Eua, in Tonga.

Lord Tuita, Consul General of the Kingdom of Tonga in San Francisco, attended the shipment ceremony.

Lord Tuita, Tonga Consul General, San Francisco; Taylor Butterfield; Chuck Haupt, Executive Director, MedShare's Western Region

This container of critically-needed medical supplies and equipment was coordinated (including the seafreight) by Taylor Butterfield from Sacramento, California, who has undertaken this project as a part of his Boy Scout Eagle Award.

This is the 2nd container of medical supplies and equipment that has been sent by MedShare to the Kingdom.

Tonga Consul General Lord Tuita with Executive Director, MedShare W. Region) during the ceremony marking MedShare's second shipment of medical aid to Tonga

MedShare is an innovative non-profit organization and operates California’s first large-scale surplus medical supply recycler which mobilizes tons of excess medical supplies through cooperation with various manufacturers and its 29 local partner hospitals.

Founded in 1998, MedShare is consistently ranked as one of the United States most efficient charities, and has successfully delivered over 750 containers of aid to 90 developing nations.

The oft-undersupplied Port-au-Prince’s Hopital General, where many of the survivors were taken, is able to provide treatment thanks to the Atlanta-based nonprofit MedShare.

“I thank you for the first container which arrived at a perfect time. The First Lady has ordered retrieval of the container immediately. There was a terrible accident in Port-au-Prince on Monday evening … The Hopital General in the city needs a lot of supplies,” says Mona Adam, Nurse, Special Envoy of the First Lady of Haiti, Sophie Martelly.

The ocean container was sent from MedShare, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that recovers and redistributes medical supplies and equipment. The container was sponsored by a metro Atlanta not-for-profit hospital. The container left Atlanta on December 1, 2011 and arrived in Haiti on January 16, 2012.

“The 1,000+ boxes of supplies on this shipment will make a difference to Haitians in their time of emergency,” says Meridith Rentz, CEO of MedShare. “Both before and after the 2010 earthquake, Haiti has held a special place in the heart of our organization, and we are committed to the ongoing strengthening of their healthcare system.”

In the organization’s 14 years, MedShare has shipped a total of 72 ocean containers containing over $8.8 million worth of medical supplies and equipment to Haiti. The most recent container left on January 11, 2012.

MedShare receives CalRecycle's WRAP award

The WRAP awards honor California companies and nonprofits for workplace solutions to cut their waste output and reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfills. MedShare was recognized for their efficient recovery and redistribution of surplus medical supplies and equipment that helps to improve the environment and healthcare for the medically underserved. This is the third consecutive year the nonprofit has received the honor.

“This year’s WRAP winners are evidence that businesses and organizations of all sizes are achieving significant waste reduction and recycling goals, all while helping protect the environment and preserve our natural resources,” CalRecycle Director Caroll Mortensen said.

MedShare launched California’s first large-scale medical supply recycling center in 2008. They collect unused, unexpired surplus medical supplies and equipment from hospitals and medical distributors. These are items that would be destined for landfills, but instead, MedShare redistributes them to needy hospitals in developing countries as well as community-based health clinics throughout California.

“MedShare continues to deliver innovative solutions for healthcare providers that want to green their operations and we are honored that our waste reduction efforts are being recognized by the State of California,” said Chuck Haupt, Executive Director, MedShare’s Western Region. “In cooperation with leading hospitals and manufacturers we were able to divert an amazing 228 tons of surplus in 2011.”

In Northern California, there are more than 30 hospitals participating in MedShare’s innovative Hospital Recovery Program. These hospitals recognize the local environmental benefit that their contributions have, as well as the impact that they will have on people’s lives around the globe.

In 14 years of operation, MedShare has shipped over 750 forty-foot shipping containers of surplus medical supplies and equipment abroad, which accounts for over two million cubic feet of landfill space saved.

“The faceshields and protective masks provided by Key Surgical are destined for a number of developing countries where they will improve the quality of healthcare available,” said Meridith Rentz, CEO and president of MedShare. “We’re grateful to Key Surgical for their partnership in helping us bridge the gap between surplus and need.”

The donation by Key Surgical helps address a critical need in many developing countries. The World Health Organization estimates that millions of people in the developing world die because of inadequate medical care.

MedShare collects surplus medical supplies and equipment from hospitals, distributors and manufacturers, and redistributes those supplies to qualified healthcare facilities in the developing world. Since the organization was founded in 1998, over $100 million worth of medical supplies and equipment have been sent on more than 750 shipments to 88 countries around the world, saving countless lives and over 2 million cubic feet of space from U.S. landfills.

“We’re proud to be associated with MedShare,” said Brian O’Connell, Chief Operating Officer of Key Surgical. “We believe in their cause and their ability to get our supplies into the hands of those who can do the most good for those in the most need.”

About Key Surgical
Founded in 1988, Key Surgical specializes in supplying hospitals, surgical ambulatory and outpatient centers with a complete line of sterile processing, operating room and clean room supplies that focus on cleaning, protecting, identifying and packaging of surgical instruments. Dedicated to delivering exceptional customer service, Key Surgical offers more than 2,500 medical products worldwide. The company is committed to manufacturing and distributing the highest quality medical products, and to maintaining all applicable ISO and FDA regulatory requirements.

To view December’s Container Shipment Announcements, click here.

The entire 5.6 million population of Sierra Leone is currently at high risk for malaria. There are only 102 doctors in the entire country- that’s one doctor for every 50,000 people. This year, we are raising funds for 2 medical containers to Sierra Leone that will include critical medical supplies and insecticide treated bed nets, which will help address the pressing challenges of malaria. 

Click here to join us in the fight against malaria!

On January 16, volunteers from Morehouse College, Emory University, YouthUniverse, and the Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation will converge for a Day of Interfaith Service at MedShare

Keynote reflections will be offered at 9:15 AM by Rev. Robert H. Hughes, Founder of the Generator Development Group and YouthUniverse

Rev. Robert H. Hughes, M.Div. seeks to live out his faith in God through direct action and service, everyday. Rob has made a lifetime commitment to invest in growing spiritual, ethical, sustainable, and moral leadership in urban environments and organizations. In 2007, Rob founded the Generator Development Group, LLC and YouthUniverse in Atlanta, Georgia to build capacity in local community leadership and to serve youth and young adult development through producing live events, educational media programs, cultural training and neighborhood quality of life projects.

In his faith community, Rob was ordained for pastoral leadership in Christian ministry in 2009 by Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. He currently serves as an Executive Committee Board Member with Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta, as a General Board Member with the Faith Alliance of Metropolitan Atlanta and with the Future Foundation. In summer 2005, Rob traveled to Jerusalem with the Atlanta-based World Pilgrims, an interfaith group of clergy and community leaders seeking common ground.

Rob is currently a doctoral student in Urban Ministry at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He is a 2005 Master of Divinity degree honors graduate of the Morehouse School of Religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. He completed his practical ministry experience with the United States Congressional District Office of Congressman John Lewis. In 1996, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Communication from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

For more information, please contact MedShare’s Faiths Act Fellows, Clint Fluker (cfluker@medshare.org) or Sana Rahim (srahim@medshare.org).