Foreign aid: Bill Pratt, Bill Gibson and Anton Van Doornik pack a container at the Rotary depot.
By John Van Klaveren
A ROTARY club depot organising overseas aid containers needs help with its transport bills after becoming “overrun” with donations.
Rotary Club of Geelong donations coordinator Anton van Doornik said sending each container overseas costs about $3000.
“We have five containers on the go and it’s unusually busy. We rely on donations to pay for the transport and shipping,” Mr Van Doornik said.
Mr Van Doornik said up to 30 Rotary volunteers sorted, packed and loaded donations at the depot behind North Geelong’s Osborne House each Tuesday.
“Last week we loaded a boat in a container for Vanuatu and a purpose-built trailer for a rebuilding project at Sariri Village in Papua New Guinea.
Mr Van Doornik said donations included $40,000 worth of optical equipment, medical gear, computers, sewing machines, bicycles, portable generators, a cement mixer and a tractor.
Volunteers sorted donated clothing, crockery, cutlery and books, with unusable donations recycled.
“We had volunteers out collecting books from Deakin, medical equipment from Bupa and desks from Ashby Primary School this week,” Mr Van Doornik said.
“It’s all equipment and goods that is surplus to requirements and comes from Rotary clubs all over Victoria as well as local organisations.
“In the past we’ve sent an ambulance and four-wheel-drive vehicles.”
