After reading a story in the Hudson Reporter, some local hospitals and businesses have signed on to an effort to send needed supplies to Ebola-stricken West Africa, including the hospital and health care operator CarePoint Health.
“CarePoint saw the story in the Hudson Reporter and reached out to us,” said Elijah Wells of Jersey City, who began collecting supplies as a grass root effort and in honor of his mother, who was originally from Sierra Leone in West Africa. She died about two years ago.
When his grandmother called him about the crisis, he decided to organize an effort to send supplies.
Out of this conversation emerged Operation Amira – named after his mother – a local humanitarian relief campaign to help families in Sierra Leone cope with the Ebola outbreak.
The 30-day effort raised 12 barrels and boxes of supplies to send to Sierra Leone.
“These inexpensive necessities will bring indispensable assistance to those suffering the most,” he said. “My initial donation of supplies and clothing should arrive in Sierra Leone in January and will be distributed locally to people in need. After my initial shipment was complete I was contacted by Allyson (Miller) at CarePoint Health. She heard about my project and called to donate $5,000 dollars of medical supplies. I partnered with The National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in North America. They partnered with the Sierra Leone Embassy and have secured a plane to send critical medical supplies.”
“These will be distributed through their ministry of health and sanitation to hospitals there.”— Elijah Wells
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“We will make our formal donation then,” he said. “We donated medical supplies to them rather than pay for a second shipment ourselves. These will be distributed through their ministry of health and sanitation to hospitals there.”
Miller said the supplies from CarePoint were shipped to Washington DC from Christ Hospital on Nov. 21.
These supplies, plus those offered from Jersey City Medical Center, and ShopRite, will travel by plane, and will arrive within 24 hours, ahead of supplies Wells raised in his first shipment, which were sent by cargo ship.
Local organizations and businesses lending a hand
Wells said CarePoint Health, ShopRite, Jersey City Medical Center, Hygiene Project, Grace Church (of Jersey City), BelovED Community Charter School (and its parent teacher organization), Concordia Learning Center at St. Joseph’s School For The Blind, Pop/Dance Group NINA SKY, Sean Hollingsworth Unity of New York, Jersey City Theater Center, Timothy Herrick, Mount St. Michael’s Church, Pump It Up, The Julian’s, Dr. John McGee and Convene were among those who contributed.
“Hygiene Project is a youth group in Secaucus,” Wells said. “Every year they do something to help the homeless. They also read about this effort in the Hudson Reporter and they gave us kits and clothing.”
While Ebola has been contained in some parts of Africa, Sierra Leone still has problems.
“It is the hot bed of Ebola right now,” Wells said. “Several doctors have died in that region already. And as a byproduct of the disease, more than 5,000 kids have been orphaned, and that may be a low number. People don’t want the kids because they are afraid of Ebola.”
For more information go to https://www.facebook.com/operationamira or email Elijah@littleclubheads.com.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.