OUR THIRD 40 ' SHIPPING CONTAINER IS HEADED TO THE ISLANDS!

 AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF OF FRUSTRATION

CONTAINER THREE HAS FINALLY LEFT LOUISVILLE 

THIS ONE WAS THE TOUGHEST TO ORGANIZE! 

I WAS NEVER SO GLAD TO SEE THE BACK END OF A TRUCK!

There is so much waste in this country, especially when it comes to "still good" medical supplies. Our wonderful local Supplies Over Seas collects surplus medical supplies from area hospitals, clinics and nursing facilities and, with the help of a team of volunteers, sorts it and helps prepare it to be shipped to needed areas in this country and around the world. This is the third 40 ' shipping container to be sent from Louisville to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines where I have been volunteering. 

My organization, the Catholic Second Wind Guild, paid the fees for the first two containers, but asked the government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to sponsor this one.  It was a long process with several glitches along the way, but it finally came together. 

The SVG government, because of our help in this process, allows us to put free-of-charge needed school supplies, children's books, household furnishings and liturgical articles for the institutions of the Diocese of Kingstown, SVG into the container. We thank our partner charity in Tulsa (Oklahoma), Blessings International: Medicines of Missions, for helping us source needed medicinal supplies for the orphans of Saint Benedict Home for Children. Three large boxes of medicines will be going down with this shipping container. 

We thank Frank Hulsman of the now closed Saint Barnabas Parish for some of their surplus stacking chairs, school desks and chairs, sports equipment and liturgical items. 

The Boys Scout Troop of St. John Paul II load desks and chairs for their trip to the island missions. 

We thank all who donated school supplies and other useful items. All of those things are very much needed down in the island missions. We thank the staff and volunteers of Supplies Over Seas for their help and patience. We thank our friend, recent island volunteer and former S.O.S. employee, Tim Tomes, for his help as well. 

We thank Ms. Sandra Davis of the Diocese of Kingstown, SVG, for being the intermediary between us and the government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Ms. Davis is an active Catholic and a former government minister. 

Classmate, Paul Bleuel, and I stood beside our first container in the spring of 2017 as it was about to depart for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.  

I said goodbye to the second container in the spring of 2019 as it left S.O.S. in Louisville for the islands. 

OUR THIRD CONTAINER

September 30, 2020

We loaded this third container on Wednesday, September 30th. Below are some photographs from the loading process. First pallet goes in! 

 

The super-helpful S.O.S. team posing for a photo-op before the doors are closed on another successful container load. 

 

NOW AVAILABLE

 My latest book is now in print ...

You may order it on Amazon.com (click HERE) 

or pick up a copy at Tonini Church Supply, 966 Breckenridge Ln., Louisville KY 40207 

1-502-897-7100

(shipping available) 

SIXTY-TWO YEARS AGO THIS MONTH

MY FIRST DAY OF TWELVE YEARS OF SEMINARY

Staring into a blazing sun, this photo was taken in September of 1958 a few minutes before I left home to go to Saint Thomas Seminary on old Brownsboro Road in Louisville. I had just turned fourteen. I remember buying this first black suit in Louisville at Robert Hall Clothes. 

Robert Hall Clothes Company lasted nationally from 1938-1977

Looking back, I realize now that I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that nobody was pressuring me, but I felt "compelled" to go see if I could be a priest. In fact, almost everyone I knew, from my parish priest to many in my hometown, either laughed at the idea, humored me thinking I'd be back home soon or could care less. I had very little support. In fact, my self-perception was so distorted that it has taken me until recently to get this old photo out and have it restored so I can really look at it. What I see in that photo now is certainly not what I saw then! 

Looking back, sixty-two years later, it feels like I imagine I would feel if I had crossed a mine-field loaded with land-mines during a war and survived the crossing. All I can say now is that I am "simply amazed - forever grateful." I have been very happy as a priest, but I would not want to go through those first six years of seminary again! 

This is what it looked like when I first arrived. After sixty-two years, I can still remember arriving at the front door one Sunday afternoon in September.

Saint Thomas Seminary was closed fifty years ago this year. There is no trace of it left. It was demolished and replaced by a high-end subdivision called the Woods of Saint Thomas. 

I still dream about it. In my dreams I am always walking through an abandoned building with vines growing all over it. As I am walking through it, I am imagining how it would look "restored." I guess my mind is still trying to "redeem" those stressful years. 

ONE SUNNY DAY IN 2020 - A Little Pandemic Humor