On Load Week

January 9, 2018

Bonjour! My name is Kaylene Murphy. Kyle introduced me in her earlier blog. I am a senior Emergency Management major and one of the team leaders for this years trip down to Haiti. I will be taking over Kyle’s job and will serve as the blogger, providing you with updates on our travels and progress. I am so excited to tell you all about this invaluable learning experience and explain to you some of the challenges and triumphs that come with international relief.

Our team has been very busy the last couple of weeks leading up to the ship’s departure on Sunday January 14th. We spent the last two weeks gathering last minute supplies and donations for onload week as well as our departure to Haiti on Tuesday January 16th. We stored all of our donations at a Mass Maritime owned warehouse just down the road from the Academy. We spent two full days packaging and wrapping the supplies at the warehouse. Everything needed to be secured properly on pallets and labeled so that they could be loaded onto the ship safely and efficiently. Simultaneously we created a detailed inventory list so that the offload of supplies in Haiti is organized. In total we have 44 pallets packaged and loaded onto the ship. This is nearly four times the amount of pallets that were brought down two years ago! This is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved.

As you’ve read in the previous blog we have all taken on seperate projects that we will implement once on the ground. Through these projects we have collected solar panels, a year supply of adult diapers for the orphanage, four pallets of nutrition shakes and supplements, desks and chairs to outfit the high school, four containers of medical supplies for the clinic, and much more.

Jenelle Miller was in charge of coordinating the adult diapers.She was able to secure a year supply which will help the orphanage tremendously. Below is Jenelle’s account of receiving the diapers and the coordination effort that took place a few weeks ago.

“The process of getting the diapers was an extensive project. The donation of the diapers arrived an hour earlier than anticipated, so I had to inform the group of the time change. Along with the time change, the storage plans changed the day of the diapers arrival. It was a stressful situation with not being given a heads up with the relocation of the diapers. But with the help of facilities they were able to find us a new storage area a few minutes off campus. Wayne Raulino, director of operations, directed us to the Tamarack (MMA warehouse) to offload the diapers. Facilities was immensely helpful with the offload of the diapers and securing the location. Once all the diapers were stored at the Tamarack, facilities was very generous to offer to help with moving the diapers onto the ship in a couple weeks.” - Jenelle Miller MMA 19’

Sam Santoro was put in charge of two projects. One was coordinating the delivery of solar panels and the other was acquiring construction materials to fix the floor in the mayor’s office. Below is his account of the importance of solar panels on the island as well as managing the panels and their delivery.

“On Friday the 15th of December we received a shipment of solar batteries and solar panels. While these are two completely different items, they are all going to the same place. Over the past few hurricane seasons, Haitians on the island used solar batteries to power to charge thing such as their phones but over time these batteries burnt out. There are nearly 1,000lbs of solar batteries that we will bring down to Haiti via the US TS Kennedy. The solar panels going to be used for the creation of power to run other things the Haitians need on the island. This shipment also came in at around 1,000lbs. We will bring down 22 solar panels, each panel is about 3.5 feet wide and 5.5 feet tall and weighs in at 42 lbs a panel.” - Sam Santoro MMA 18’

As the next couple of days unfold, we will dive deeper into everyone’s projects and what their impact will be to the island. Next time we talk the team will be on their way to Haiti!

Talk to you soon,

Kaylene Murphy MMA 18’