The Rotary Club of Playa del Carmen Seaside, with a network of Rotary partners in the United States, has an opportunity to arrange for a shipping container load of medical equipment and supplies, with an estimated value in excess of $400,000 US Dollars, to be donated and shipped to the new Red Cross Hospital in Playa del Carmen.
Here’s how:
It starts with Project C.U.R.E (projectcure.org) a Colorado-based non-profit whose mission is to receive large quantities of equipment donations from US hospitals and put it – in “like new” condition – in the hands of hospitals with needs. All equipment is inspected and certified in good condition. Once our project is approved, Playa Red Cross personnel will have password access to Project C.U.R.E.’s vast inventory that will allow them to select what they need, much like filling an online shopping cart.
Once the selections are finalized, the equipment needs to be packed into a container and shipped to Playa del Carmen. That’s where Rotary comes into the picture. There are handling fees and shipping costs of approximately $20,000 USD required for Project C.U.R.E. to package, load and document the container, and to then ship it here. Partnering Rotary Clubs in Denver and Chicago in the United States will raise approximately half of the required $20,000.
We have committed to raising the rest. We have pledged $5,000 USD from the proceeds of our first annual Seaside Rotary Golf Classic last October, to this cause. We have also recently pledged an additional $5,000 USD from the proceeds of our volunteering at the OHL Mayakoba Classic last fall, meaning that our Club will have raised the entire $10,000 USD required from Mexico.
There is much documentation and detailed work that still needs to be done. But by mid-summer, a container load of equipment should be backing into the Red Cross Hospital’s driveway. It will be a great day for our local Red Cross, and a proud day indeed for the Rotary Club of Playa del Carmen Seaside.
