Flaman Rentals Blog

Flaman organizes supply drive for Thailand

Posted by Jennifer Thompson Jan 26, 2011

Steve Flaman has started a supply drive in Prince Albert to fill a cargo shipping container with items to send to refugees in Thailand.

Steve and his wife Denise travelled to Mae Sot, Thailand this past November with P.A.-based Global Neighbours to distribute relief supplies to refugees from Myanmar, also called Burma. Hundreds of thousands of people are squatting in Thailand in refugee camps after fleeing their country because of the military junta in power and more than 20 years of violence.
 
“These people have nothing. They’re just trying to make some money to get food,” says Steve. “We went to a lot of villages where people literally had all the items they owned in a plastic bag.”
 
Global Neighbours makes three-to-four trips a year to Thailand to distribute supplies. They own a warehouse in Mae Sot, where they sort and organize the items, then take them by truck to villages or camps in need.
 
Steve says after he got back home to Prince Albert, he started thinking immediately about when and how they could get more supplies back there. “There’s so many things here we take for granted,” he says. “And there’s so much need there.”
 
Steve realized it would take only about 100 people to fill a container with supplies, so he organized a supply drive. The container is already 25 per cent full, and he thinks they could ship by the end of February. Global Neighbours will be delivering the items in Thailand.
 
If you’d like to drop of items, distribution centres have been set up around Prince Albert at Flaman Sales, Canadian Tire, Midtown Transmission, Truck Outfitters and Econo Lumber. Items that are needed include: blankets, towels, hand tools, soap, shampoo, school supplies, pots and pans, sewing supplies, light jackets, backpacks and bikes.
Posted in Division News | More articles by Jennifer Thompson

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