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Summer 2007 message By Glenn Shermerhorn So much has happened during the winter. And so much more continues to happen during the spring. First, to all of you who have not heard, our acting chairman since Elfie Eberle left for warmer climes has been Dave Thom. He resigned from the acting chairmanship and the board of directors effective at our February meeting. We give thanks to Dave for his unselfish service to us at a time when he was going through some hard times of his own. Even while acting as his own general contractor and primary labor force on building his new house, he was willing to give us probably more than he should have. The house is almost done and they are living comfortably in it. I am the new acting chairman and we are in search of a chairman to take over these duties. We have reduced our overstock of used clothing to a manageable point and are staying on top of the packing thanks to many volunteers in many places. Edie Mohlenhoff has become a member of the board acting as our volunteer coordinator. We are now sorting clothing at the warehouse six days each month and wanting to do so much more. We also have remote sorting going on at several churches. Thanks to them for their willingness to share space and help accomplish our mission. Three new members have joined our board from Vermont. Sandy Buggianni has taken over the duties of the secretary and is doing a great job. Blanche Lenser has become our corresponding secretary and sends out all those thank-you letters. Catherine Sheridan is now our treasurer. We know it is a jaunt to get to our monthly board meetings and truly do appreciate your efforts. Thanks to the former officers who held those positions. Your contributions helped Orphan Grain Train carry on its mission in the Northeast. We have been in our new warehouse on Central Avenue in Albany only since August last year, but it appears that we will have to find better quarters. The space we were using has been rented to another group for much more money than we are able to pay. They have only a small area left for us to use and it is too small for us to operate in successfully. We are currently searching for something near 10,000 square feet of space in a warehouse or large dry barn that we can use the forklift in. Even better, if you can think of some way for OGT to own a permanent warehouse, please contact us. I know that from the sound of this message all seems dismal. That is not the case. Last year we shipped ten 40-ft. containers overseas to people who truly need the goods in them. At a minimum valuation of $80,000 per container, that makes us a pretty good-sized operation. And we do it all with volunteers. We have increased our volunteer staff a great deal. We have at least one new congregation helping us sort clothing. We have a new group of board members who have made tremendous efforts so far and have plans to do much more. We are in the thinking stage of organizing a group to travel to various churches with a video or CD presentation to help us ship materials to those locations where there is such great need. We are also working on establishing a better system for tracking our inventory and shipments. These things are all positive. Even though we face large challenges in the future we know that with the Lord’s help we will accomplish and exceed all our needs. We have been in many different kinds of need in the past and the Lord has always blessed us richly. Please keep us in your prayers and tell your friends and neighbors about the work we do. Glenn Schermerhorn Acting Chairman 2006 Report By Adolf Meyer 2006 has been a year full of surprises, challenges, periods of struggles, faith in our Lord and some of the miracles he has answered. Let me explain: One of the toughest obstacles we faced was when we received notice that we had to leave our warehouse in Schenectady. We had to move out more quickly then expected to make room for tenants who were willing to pay $5,000 a month for the space we were using. Eventually we were handed an eviction notice, in Glens Falls. We assured the property owners that we would be out by a certain time before their deadline. We fulfilled those promises. A wonderful gift from God was when one of our Board members, Dan Lukach, found us our current warehouse in Albany and successfully negotiated a contract with the owner. The new warehouse in Albany has many advantages but a slight disadvantage in - that it is only 1/5 in size. At the time when we had to make the actual physical move between the warehouses, God sent us a miracle from the Lutheran Camp SON RISE in Pottersville. A Youth Service Group that was staying at SON RISE needed a work project. So Paul Marks, the director of Son Rise and Pastor Miller send us 30 teenagers and their adult leaders. This group came to help us when we certainly needed them the most. It was a struggle and a heartache disposing some of our stuff we could not move to our new warehouse. The guys became a virtual wrecking crew: they threw out heaps of metal, helped to move 1,500 bags of clothes that we received from Plato's Consignment Shop, which we stored in mini storage places. Then they helped us sort and pack boxes. These wonderful kids spent 490 hours of volunteer work. Hope & faith and a lot of prayers sent us additional help. Tom Town, our Warehouse Manager and Board member spent a lot of hours picking up and delivering loads upon loads of clothes. He performed these services despite his health problems and nagging leg and back troubles. Edie Mohlenhoff, a very conscientious hard working person seems as if she has made her second home - our two warehouses. Edie has been organizing the volunteer groups and is always there to help as well as teach other volunteers the ropes. Behind the scenes, she is the magic behind the production of all the paper work for shipping and makes certain that each item that goes on the container is accounted for. Another surprise and gift from God were all the volunteers that helped to load the 8x8x40 containers, 10 shipments this year - more than ever before since our start of OGT — New York Division. Our volunteers loaded thousands and thousand of very heavy boxes. They packed and squeezed in every inch of space in those containers with unbelievable care and precision. Driving the fork lifts - Glenn Schermerhorn or David Thom did a marvelous job, like pros. It was tricky for these guys with the some items like beds in these containers as they were constantly getting stuck in the ridges of the floor. Great job guys! These 10 shipments were sent to the following countries: Nicaragua, Somalia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus. Buy a Shunt - Save a Life Over 1,200 lives in Russia have been saved thanks to the "Buy a Shunt--Save a Life" program, which is administered for Orphan Grain Train by volunteers of the New York Regional Division. Orphan Grain Train's coordinator in St. Petersburg shared this note about another life was changed by the use of a shunt at the Russian Polenov Neurosurgical Hospital: Volodya Y., a 12-year-old boy from Lipetsk, was very, very sick when I saw him the first time. He couldn't speak, eat, felt poorly badly. His mother, Nina I., cried. ...He has tumor of the right vision zone and occlusive hydrocephalus. Volodya was a good son, a good student before. Nina has two other kids. Her husband died. Nina is very thankful to you for the shunt. She could never afford buying it. And the shunt is the last chance for her son to survive. After the operation, when a shunt was installed, Volodya came back to life; he is laughing, talking. He and his mother are happy. Flour for Haiti Mission News from Kyrgyzstan This story tells about the traveling hospital that Orphan Grain Train shipped to Kyrgyzstan in 1999 and how it is being used. The University of Wisconsin Medical School maintains the medical staff. (As reported in the Summer edition of the New York Division Orphan Grain Train newsletter.) Lutheran Church Missouri Synod missionaries are using medical and dental care to share the love of Christ with people in Kyrgyzstan. Susan Pfiel and Marguerite Nickel, both nurses, work very closely with the new medical outreach in Kyrgyzstan, housed in a specially constructed trailer. Two alternating medical teams staff the trailer. Each team includes a pediatrician, a gynecologist, two dentists and three nurses. On Sept. 1, 1999, the medical trailer arrived in its first village, Leninskoye, 20 minutes from the capital of Bishkek. Three months later it was still in that village and more than 4,000 people had been treated for complaints such as flu, hepatitis, food poisoning, parasites, toothaches and infertility. Pregnant women received prenatal care and education. Dental care is especially appreciated. Marguerite Nickel says, "The families of the village love our dentists, because the children do not cry when they are treated." When a government official had a toothache recently, he chose to come to the trailer for help. As a part of the medical ministry, Timothy Nickel and Robert Pfiel have started a popular Bible study in the village. Villagers are also welcome to the medical staff's Bible study on Sundays. The Kyrgyzstan doctors and nurses have become interested in learning about Christianity. Marguerite recalls a story that sums up the reason for this special mission outreach: "A few weeks ago during our Sunday afternoon Bible study with the medical staff, our pediatrician, began to cry. After the study, we took her aside and asked what was the matter. She told us that two years ago her mother died. Before she died, she begged for someone, anyone, to tell her that there was a life after this one. There was no one who could tell her. She died afraid and not knowing about Jesus. "Now the doctor knows there is eternal life for her and she can rejoice, but what about her mother? Our hope and prayer is that no one will ever again die in this country without someone to show them the Way - Jesus Christ." (For more information about the work of Orphan Grain Train in Kyrgyzstan , please click here. |
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