ISA to coordinate Haiti relief effort
The Industrial Supply Association announced that ISA is coordinating an industry-wide response following the earthquake that recently devastated Haiti.
“The need is great, the time is now,” said ISA member Derek Yurgaitis, business unit director of Sorbent Products Company (SPC) in Somerset, N.J. Yurgaitis and Jessica Polychronis, vice president of procurement and marketing for Industrial Supply Company in Salt Lake City, Utah, began to organize the relief effort for the victims of the worst natural disaster to hit the Caribbean in more than 200 years.
“Industry trade associations are the strongest and largest networks that exist in the MRO industry, and we feel this is the quickest way to raise the greatest amount of goods that will be needed in the rebuilding of Haiti,” said Polychronis. “We have been gratified at the response we have received already. We will blend our efforts into those of others who are helping.”
While relief agencies are asking for monetary donations to pay for the immediate need for water, food and medical supplies, this industry response is being organized to collect other types of supplies that will be needed as the impoverished island nation starts the long rebuilding process, ISA said in a press release.
The pipeline for getting goods from company locations to a central staging point for shipping to Haiti has been established. Several groups with experience working in Haiti have been lined up to ship and distribute industry contributions. The United Nations, the Red Cross, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are among those groups.
“We will be adding more recognized groups to the distribution effort as we develop our plans and adjust to the magnitude of contributions,” said Yurgaitis.
ISA’s goal is to ship the first container of contributions by Feb. 23. It is asking contributors to send donations to arrive by Feb. 18.
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