Eagle Project:

Collected and Distributed Household good for Hmong Refugees coming to live in Minnesota.

Household Goods Drive

for Hmong Refugees

Michael Link Troop 370 Pax Christi May 16, 2005

Current Situation as of August 8, 2004

By the end of summer 2004 5,000 Hmong refugees will have arrived in Minnesota from refugee camps in Thailand. During the Vietnam War the United States got their help because they knew the terrain. After the United States got out of the war the Hmong were attacked. Horrible stories are told of the attacks during this time. For example a newlywed couple went out for a walk in the woods and when they returned, they found their house had been fire bombed while they were away, killing their entire family. The attacks continued until the Hmong were moved to refugee camps in Thailand. The camps are now being closed and about 35,000 of the Hmong are coming to live in the United States including 5,000 to Minnesota. Fifteen years ago Mrs. Cindy Eddy adopted a Hmong Family and since then has continued to collect and distribute household goods to the families.

Project Goal

The goal of my project is to collect household items (original list on page 5) for Hmong families that are coming to the US from refugee camps in Thailand.

Details of the Plan

I will collect the items needed by word-of-mouth, flyers and a drive at my church. I will have members of my Boy Scout troop help distribute flyers and collect the needed items. I will store the collected items at my house and in borrowed garage space until we are able to distribute the items to the families. The collected items will then be brought to the families that need them.

Project Summary

Items were collected during a drive at Pax Christi. Flyers were passed out one week in advance of the drive and bins were placed at church entrances the following week for people to place donated items into. Items were then sorted and stored in my basement. My Confirmation group helped sort some of the items. The rest was sorted by friends, scouts, and neighbors. The collected items were then brought to the Neighborhood House in St. Paul, MN where needy families came to collect needed items.

Project Conclusions

We successfully collected over 2700 household goods for the Hmong refugees. The types of items collected were decreased from the original list to an amount of items that was thought to be easy to manage; although, when the collection was done, the number of items actually collected was almost too large to be easily managed.

Overall the project went very well. More items were collected than was expected; I did not think I would be filling most of my basement with items I had collected. There were many people who helped me with this project. The people who helped with my project, and, I did about 170 hours of work to complete this project successfully. There were countless families that were helped by my project.

During the execution of my project it was difficult to estimate the correct number of volunteers. Sometimes too many; but most of the time, I had too few volunteers to do everything effectively. I learned volunteers are nice but the big problem is that many times you do not know how many people you have coming since people tend to cancel or say they might come and many other things. What I would do differently is to contact people helping to collect and distribute sooner so I have a better idea of how many people I can expect and so I do not have a week or two of donations filling my basement.

Time line

•1. Proposal approval.

•2. Talk to church about having drive there and storing collected items there until drive is over.

•3. Make announcement / place flyer in bulletin.

•4. Have the drive announced at church one week in advance and ministry moment the week of.

Actual: Flyers passed out at Pax Christi October 30^th and 31^st. (There was no ministry moment).

•5. Give at least ten flyers to each member of my Boy Scout troop to give to friends, family, and neighbors; have them collect items and bring to meeting next week.

Actual: Did not happen. Flyers were passed out only at church instead

•6. Have a drive at church and have flyers for people to take if they have forgotten to bring something the day of the drive.

Actual: Drive held on November 6^th and 7^th at Pax Christi

•7. Sort the collected items at the storage place and then talk to Mrs. Eddy and begin distributing the items to the families that need them.

Actual: Items were stored and sorted at my house and were distributed through the Neighborhood House in Saint Paul, MN

Needed items include:

Original List

Needed items include:

•· Furniture

•· Tables

•· Chairs

•· Dressers

•· Beds / Mattresses

•· Sofas

•· Lamps

•· Dishes (preferably plastic)

•· Plates

•· Bowls

•· Glasses

•· Silverware

•· Pots and Pans

•· Clothing / Shoes

•· Children's

•· Teens

•· Adults

•· Towels and Bedding

•· School Supplies

Revised List - After Discussion with Advisors

•· Dishes (preferably plastic)

•· Plates

•· Bowls

•· Glasses

•· Silverware

•· Pots and Pans

•· Towels and Bedding

Volunteers

Volunteers will be needed for:

•· Shifts at church services

•· Passing out flyers

•· Moving collected items

•· Distribute items

Project Volunteer Hours

Estimated Hours for Each Event

Event	Number of People Needed	Hours per Person	Total Hours for Event
Planning and proposal	1	15	15
Church set up and bulletin stuffing	5	2	10
Shifts at five church services / three entrances	30	1.5	45
Passing out flyers	35 (troop)	1	35
Moving collected items	6	2	12
Distribute items	4	3	12
TOTAL			129

Actual Hours for each Event

Event	Number of People	Hours per Person	Total Hours for Event
Planning and proposal	1	20	20
Church set up and bulletin stuffing	5	1	5
Passing out flyers	20	>1	22
Shifts at five church services three entrances	25	>1	27
Sorting Collected Items	11	3	33
Moving collected items	5	4	20
Distribute items	7	6	42
TOTAL HOURS			169

Inventory Sheets

These are all of the items that were collected. Items were counted and recorded as they were sorted.

Category	Type	Size	Amount
Bedding	Sheets flat	King	9
Bedding	Sheets fitted	King	7
Bedding	Pillow Cases	King	13
Bedding	Sheets flat	Queen	31
Bedding	Sheets fitted	Queen	32
Bedding	Pillow Cases	Queen	67
Bedding	Sheets flat	Full	23
Bedding	Sheets fitted	Full	23
Bedding	Pillow Cases	Full	26
Bedding	Sheets flat	Twin	33
Bedding	Sheets fitted	Twin	33
Bedding	Pillow Cases	Twin	33
Bedding	Pillow Cases	N/A	16
Bedding	Pillow Shams	N/A	8
Bedding	Mattress Cover	Twin	1
Bedding	Mattress Pads	Full	3
Bedding	Mattress Pads	Queen	3
Bedding	Mattress Pads	Twin	4
Bedding	Blankets	N/A	22
Bedding	Pillows	N/A	7
Bedding	Throw Pillows	N/A	6
Bedding	Baby Blankets	N/A	8
Bedding	Child Size Sleeping Bag	N/A	3
Bedding	Comforter	Queen	7
Bedding	Bed Skirts	Queen	2
Bedding	Shams	Queen	8
Bedding	Comforter	Full	6
Bedding	Bed Skirts	Full	4
Bedding	Shams	Full	10
Bedding	Comforter	Twin	3
Bedding	Bed Skirts	Twin	2
Bedding	Bibs	N/A	5
Bedding	Crib Rubber Pad	N/A	5
Bedding	Crib Skirt	N/A	1
Bedding	Bumper set	N/A	1
Bedding	Crib Mattress Cover	N/A	1
Bedding	Crib Sheet	N/A	1	Bedding Total	467
Kitchen	Silverware Forks	Salad	103
Kitchen	Silverware Forks	Dinner	162
Kitchen	Silverware Spoons	Teaspoon	177
Kitchen	Silverware Spoons	Table	101
Kitchen	Silverware Knifes	Table	168
Kitchen	Silverware Knifes	Steak	8
Kitchen	Serving Pieces	N / A	44
Kitchen	Kitchen Utensils	N / A	77
Kitchen	Cutting Boards	N / A	8
Kitchen	Knives	Large	42
Kitchen	Dinnerware Dishes	Plates	235
Kitchen	Dinnerware Dishes	Cups	152
Kitchen	Dinnerware Dishes	Bowls	158
Kitchen	Dinnerware Dishes	Plastic Cups	167
Kitchen	Dinnerware Dishes	Glass Glasses	120
Kitchen	Coffee Mugs	Travel	21
Kitchen	Coffee Mugs	Glass	72
Kitchen	Water Bottles	N / A	16
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Fry Pans	14
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Sauce Pans	6
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Large Pans	7
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Roaster Pan	1
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Pots and Lids	3
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Mess Kits	2
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Tea Kettle	1
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Pie Plates	7
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Muffin Tins	2
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Cake Pans	3
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Bread Pans	3
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Cookie Sheets	1
Kitchen	Pots and Pans	Pie Keeper	1
Kitchen	misc.	rice cooker	2
Kitchen	misc.	coffee pot	1
Kitchen	misc.	dish drainer	1
Kitchen	misc.	bread machine	1
Kitchen	misc.	irons	2
Kitchen	misc.	steamer	1	Kitchen Total	1890
Towels	Bath	Bath	152
Towels	Bath	Hand	78
Towels	Bath	Wash Cloths	91
Towels	Fingertip	N / A	28	Towels Total	349

		Totals
		Bedding	467
		Kitchen	1890
		Towels	349
		Total Items	2706

Boy Scout Troop 370

Michael A. Link, June 2005

Household Goods Drive

for Hmong Refugees

Michael Link Troop 370 Pax Christi May 16, 2005

Current Situation as of August 8, 2004

Needed items include:

Original List

Revised List - After Discussion with Advisors

Volunteers will be needed for:

Event

Event

Troop Members

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