12/20/2025
The container has left Richland Center. This will be our first of several posts thanking those involved!
Special thanks for the considerable number of people and local businesses that stepped up to support the JMP relief drive to Jamaica. Our board of directors has been instrumental in assuring success, but it took multiple people at a moment’s notice to help get these supplies headed to Jamaica. This thank you is the least we can provide.
As we started this process, Amy and Greg Schoepp immediately offered to host the container at The Phoenix Center which allowed a local drop off location. Generous donations regularly filled Amy’s office. Looking at the supply needs, Steve Banker offered and arranged for White Mound Metals to provide high quality roofing steel (way more than we expected) at a discounted price and delivered them to the container. This alone will help replace the roof on almost ten homes in Jamaica. On short notice, and deer hunting weekend, Brent Gaffney drove his skid-steer to The Phoenix Center to load this important cargo.
Erin Jelinek at St. Mary School helped arrange bulk food delivery directly to the container in addition to arranging other food donations. When the pallet of food and water arrived, it was Jeff Falk at Chet’s Feed and Seed that came immediately with a forklift to unload the delivery truck and load the container. Travis Wertz provided all new mattresses for the residents at Blessed Assurance at a reduced price and delivered to the container. Similarly, Garrett Vetesnik at Vetesnik Powersport stepped up to help arrange, discount, and deliver ten high end generators to assure power while electrical restoration remains delayed for months in Jamaica. Walsh’s Ace Hardware donated crates of nails and hardware to help the rebuilding effort. Finally, All American Do It Center donated and provided the remaining construction tools and supplies at their cost. It was a full community effort.
The next need came due to the weather forecast and shipping delays. With snow and very cold temperatures, we worried about freezing liquid donations in the container. Randy Olson took our call and offered to house the container in his shop, despite the obvious inconvenience. This delay lasted a little longer than expected but he accepted the continued use of his shop with grace. His employees also helped with final packing of the soon-to-be filled container. The final difficulty was loading this now very heavy container and delivering to Chicago for rail delivery to New York and shipping to Jamaica. Bruce Wagner offered to help remove the container from the shop and load it onto a trailer. But it was Joe Hall with Dairyland Transportation who generously completed the puzzle. With a simple, “we should be good to go,” Joe Hall humbly provided every bit of reassurance that these needed supplies would be on their way from rural Wisconsin to the hurricane devastated island of Jamaica. And finally, thanks to two employees with impressive customer service who helped educate and coordinate, Oscar and Angie with Interworld Freight. Although they may never see this post, we offer our prayers of thanks. We appreciate their willingness to ensure this shipment, despite multiple setbacks (i.e. our email string is over one hundred different emails in the last 2 weeks), made it to Jamaica.
We have been amazed by the generosity of Richland Center and beyond. While we anticipated the swift support from so many, we remain deeply grateful. Sincerely – THANK YOU. We truly hope each of you understand the difference these actions will make.
