May 2, 2026

On the morning of Saturday May 2nd 2026, I stood in the sunshine in the parking area that we lease from the Ontario government at the Lakehead  Psychiatric Hospital overcome by emotion.

Surrounded by four highway storage trailers,  a 40’ ocean container and an Erb transport truck holding 20 hospital beds. My spirit was full of thankfulness to the Lord for the miracle I was seeing unfolding around me. Twenty-six volunteers including younger with strong backs and willing spirits. Many older volunteers with willing spirits but less than strong bodies. All here in an answer to prayer.

• I marvelled at all the details that had come together to make this moment possible.
• Thunder Bay Regional Hospital donating 42 modern hospital beds.
• Thunder Bay Port Authority giving us storage space to hold them until this day.
• Arranging with the shipping broker to buy the container, have it inspected for seaworthiness, and brought by truck to Thunder Bay from Toronto.
• The truck arriving safely for packing at 9 a.m. at the LPH parking lot.
• The efficiency of our volunteers in tying down all the loose parts on the beds so they could safely be stood on end for shipping.
• The accurate recording by volunteers of the 1700 plus individual items.
• The provision of goodies and coffee to fuel our volunteers
• The multiple layers of paper work all filled out accurately and on and on.

I am so thankful for all of this and as well the $30,000 many of you have contributed to make shipping possible. These were my feelings as I stood there and watched, thanking God for His goodness.

The following is Tom Baxter’s summary of the details of the packing day which gives a really good idea of how it all went.

Thankyou on behalf of the suffering people in Zimbabwe.

Jerome Harvey

Good day volunteers:

It is always a satisfying feeling to see a packed container leaving for its destination.
This was especially true yesterday when we shipped a container dominated by 42 beds!

It is safe to say that there was a certain amount of anxiety and apprehension about this task because of the number of beds, and because these beds we received are substantially bigger (longer, wider) and heavier (some pushing 700 lbs.) than the older types we have shipped before. We were all hoping and praying for manpower and safety and these requests were fulfilled. This was a challenging task and took a full day, 9:00 am to 5:30 pm.

In particular we want to thank so many types of helpers:

• to the men of different ages (late teens, early 20s through 60s and 70s ) who came out to help, of whom quite a number participated in standing up beds inside the container.
• to Dave March who worked out the plan for loading and took charge of the operation in his usual manner and skill;
• to those who prepared the beds by removing the breakable bumper wheels (used to protect hospital walls and the beds in hospital), mounted on corners of the beds. These tend to break off when lifting beds and make the bed more unstable.
• to Gerry Erb who brought the Erb trailer to Keefer Terminal on Friday afternoon to load the first 20 beds, and to the volunteers who wheeled them onto the trailer for transport to our trailer storage location;
• and to Gerry Erb who brought the same trailer and stayed with us while we unloaded the first 20 beds, and then when back for 22 more, which also had to be prepared and stood up.
• to the men who not only lifted beds but also packed items around them; this was an amazing task and they filled every space they could possible.
• to the men and women who diligently pulled boxes and other items from one of our storage trailers to place in among the boxes; this task ended up being greater than I projected due to the efficiency of the packers in getting items into small spaces.
• to the ladies who persevered in recording all the inventory details
• to many for providing some food and snacks
• for the diligence in transferring inventory numbers on the tally sheets back into packing list information for the documents necessary for Customs.
• to the new faces who appeared in the efforts above to help the cause.
• to those who came in the morning, those who came in the afternoon, those who came all day, and those who left for other responsibilities and then came back.

All efforts were appreciated, a very successful day. In total, 1748 items including 42 beds, 48 mattresses and three doctors’ exam tables.