TACOS from Nokomis, IL, at MMDC #22

On the last Saturday in February we had the TACOS from Nokomis, IL. This youth group’s acronym stands for Teens About Christ Our Savior. Both senior and junior high students were among the 9 volunteers and 3 adults that packed PDKs for 3 hours. They completed 27 boxes for a total of 651 Personal Dignity Kits.

MMDC recycles all of the cardboard boxes that supplies come in, so all of the boxes (from toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, soap, razors, toothbrushes, etc.) have to be flattened to so they take up less space. 

 The boxes were rolled out to the warehouse and placed on a pallet.

Those pallets are then raised with a forklift and stored in the warehouse on shelves.

 Before each load goes out to those in need, it is blessed.

 So we prayed over the PDKs for those who will receive them and for those who assembled them.

Next Carl showed them how to shrink wrap the pallet of 28 boxes.

 And then a couple of the guys helped.

Jacksonville Key Club at MMDC #21

We had 2 youth groups this week at MMDC. On Friday we had the Jacksonville, IL, High School Key Club. Thank you for all of your help.

Here are the members of the Key Club. This is a group of students in the Business Department who do volunteer work. Their advisor, David Ruben de Cela, explained that the Key Club runs 3 blood drives at their high school, and to date they have collected 330 pints for Morgan County.

The P.E.T. (Personal Energy Transport) will soon be made at MMDC. A prototype in the workroom gets a lot of attention. It will be used by someone who has lost the use of their lower limbs, like a wheelchair but with wider tires in rough terrain.

First time visitors to MMDC start with a tour of the facility.  Here they tour the bicycle repair shop. 

Break time allows volunteers from different groups to mingle and get to know one another. Break time is MANDATORY when you hear the bell ring!

Several of the girls worked with local volunteer Roger in the desk shop.

The girls from Jacksonville completed 2 desks. Good job, well done!

Other members of the Key Club rolled trash bags. Warehouse/Cerical Assistant Mary explains about the flood cleaning buckets and the need for 24 trash bags in each.

The Jacksonville Key Club rolled 1,000 trash bags!

Another task the Key Club completed was layering towels and wash cloths for Personal Dignity Kits. They used 4 bales of towels (300 per bale) and 2 bales of wash cloths (600 per bale) for a total of 1,200 sets to be used in PDKs.

MMDC #20

The group from Gray Summit/Labadie, MO, went touring Lincoln sites on Wednesday, so here are photos from the rest of their week at MMDC. On Thursday and Friday in the workroom we began folding 8,675 copies of letter to be mailed out to MMDC patrons. It is a job still in progress, although the volunteers also put the 3rd class postage permit on 5,000 envelopes (and unsticking the adhesive that had stuck some of the envelopes closed), and moved on to inserting the letter, a donation envelope, and a new brochure into the envelopes. As of the end of the last full week of February, eleven trays with about 400 to 500 envelopes in each tray (or over half of the total) are DONE. We appreciate all you volunteers who helped with the project. They’ll be in the mail by March 2, thanks to you. Also in these photos are members of the team from Polo, IL, in the BEEP Connection, and from Arch UMC in Hannibal, MO, as well as local volunteers.

Barbara and Laverne spent MANY hours folding letters.

Caretaker Dick stops by as local volunteers Steve and Marilyn Marcus helped fold.

February volunteer coordinators Susan and Carl and BEEP volunteer Dorothy helped fold letters, too.

Warehouse/Clerical Assistant Mary helps Barbara and Laverne put 3rd class postage permit stickers on envelopes.

BEEP Connection members Dorothy and Judy fold letters.

John, Dennis, and Linda from Polo, IL, also folded letters.

And then EVERYBODY got into the act, including David, Glen, Bill, and Bob.

And a group from Hannibal, MO, came for the day and also folded letters.

We had so many people helping that we moved the sewing machines to have more work space!

Caretaker Judy helps, too, ...

...and Volunteer Coordinator Susan. So we were done folding letters by noon with all of those helpers! The brochures hadn’t arrived yet, so we could move on to other tasks in the afternoon.

 Warehouse Supervisor Mark washed the spilled laundry soap off the concrete.

Caretaker Dick took a group of guys out to use Murphy’s Oil Soap on the treadle sewing machine cabinets. 

Boy, it really makes that wood shine! 

The gals from the BEEP Connection ironed school bags and handles to prepare them for the Monday sewing group.

And the women from Gray Summit/Labadie, MO, rolled trash bags for flood cleaning buckets.

 Oops, Susan spilled the labels and rubber bands for the trash bags.

The workroom was really busy because part of the volunteers from Hannibal sewed handles for school bags... 

 ...while others rolled a dozen trash bags into bundles for the cleaning buckets.

Then the guys out in the warehouse worked on school desks.

Dennis and Bob assembled desks.

 Gene and John sanded and sealed desk parts.

It was only a minor puncture wound, requiring only a band-aid and some hydrogen peroxide for Bob’s finger. No accident report form required.

And Bill continued to work on the sewing machines.

Local volunteers Willis and Bob took on a special project. They built shelves for a cabinet to be used to store nuts & bolts in the desk shop.

Bob puts in a shelf.

And Willis puts a shelf on the reinforced metal rails inside the cabinet.

After lunch the brochures arrived, so we started stuffing envelopes. The teams who helped were from Gray Summit/Labadie, MO; Polo, IL; and Hannibal, MO.

And for a second day we stuffed envelopes.

Since sewing is a skill that not everyone possesses, these gals from Hannibal continued on school bag handles.

Here's the team from Arch UMC in Hannibal, MO.

Every day we end the day with cleaning up. Gene from Gray Summit, MO, would you take the garbage out to the dumpster, please?