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Pack for a Purpose: Doing Some Good on Your Next Vacation

Pack for a Purpose
It is becoming easier than ever to positively impact a community in which you are vacationing thanks to Pack for a Purpose. The organization, founded in 2009, lists supplies needed for community projects around the world that travelers can bring with them.

Pack for a Purpose has partnered with more than 475 accommodations and tour companies to supply community projects in more than 60 countries, according to their website. Community projects are broken down into education, health, child welfare, animal welfare and socio-economic development.

“Everyone’s mother told them when you go to someone’s house to eat a meal, you take a gift – candy, flowers, whatever – to say thank you for your hospitality,” said Rebecca Rothney, Pack for a Purpose’s founder and chairperson, to the PBS News Hour.

“So when you go to somebody’s country, it’s my belief you should also say ‘thank you for your hospitality’ by bringing people in that country something they could actually use. And hopefully, that’s where our website comes in,” added Rothney.

Packing for a purpose comes down to five easy steps: selecting a destination, finding accommodation or a tour company and a project it supports, picking items from the project’s requested items list and dropping off supplies at the accommodation or tour company. From there, the company delivers the supplies you have contributed.

Travelers have shown how simple the process is and have shared their stories on Pack for a Purpose’s website. Additionally, travelers may have the option to go with the accommodation or tour company to meet the communities and personally deliver their supplies. Some incredibly heartwarming stories have come from the staff that work and live in these communities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afXhN0EbnFQ

Suzan Kruger, who works at the Kwa Maritane accommodation in South Africa, shared a story about the many supplies they’ve received for the Borite Primary School, which serves children who come from low to no-income families.

“This morning I walked in to an incredible mountain of school supplies, puzzles, board games, books, sporting equipment and wall charts. Incredibly this weighed in at an amazing 73.23 kilos [161.44 pounds],” said Kruger in October 2015. “Over the past 2.5 months, we have been able to pass on an incredible 174.85 kilos [385.47 pounds] of donations to the school.”

Travelers are encouraged to check Pack for a Purpose’s website prior to their next adventure for an updated list of participating accommodation and tour companies and the supplies needed. Small donations can quickly add up and make a big difference.

– Summer Jackson

Sources: Pack for a Purpose 1, Pack for a Purpose 2, PBS

10 Facts: Partnership for Supply Chain Management

partnership-supply-chain-management
Here are ten facts about the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM).

  1. The Partnership for Supply Chain Management is a nonprofit organization established in 2005 by two of the leading international health consultancy organizations in the U.S.—JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) and Management Sciences for Health (MSH), both nonprofits.
  2. PFSCM’s goal is to ensure reliable availability of essential products to programs in the developing world and to strengthen national supply chains to become sustainable mechanisms for delivering these products to clients.
  3. Through its innovative projects, PFSCM procures and distributes essential medicines and supplies, provides technical assistance to strengthen existing supply chains and collaborates with in-country and global partners to coordinate efforts in these areas.
  4. PFSCM is not a traditional procurement services agent in that it takes a holistic approach to deliver integrated supply chain services (from quantification and forecasting to delivery) to ensure commodity security for its clients. PFSCM shares its forecasts and quantifications with vendors and other international organizations supporting health services to the developing world. In times of short supply, the organization works to minimize the effects of shortages for all stakeholders, not just its own clients.
  5. PFSCM assists countries in determining and implementing the most appropriate strategy for each supply chain component, whether managed internally or outsourced, to achieve the best value.
  6. PFSCM is made up of a staff of more than 400 from team member organizations that include nonprofit organizations, commercial private-sector corporations, and academic institutions, providing all the technical skills needed to ensure reliable availability of essential products to international development programs.
  7. Since PFSCM was established in 2005, it has delivered health commodities to countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean and helped strengthen supply chains in more than 20 countries throughout the developing world.
  8. PFSCM has the physical presence of team member field offices in over 90 countries.
  9. Currently, PFSCM is implementing two projects that aim to reduce the worldwide impact of HIV & AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The first program, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), was launched to combat global HIV & AIDS—the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history. The second program, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a major financing institution in the fight against these diseases in 140 countries.
  10. If an organization is interested in procuring items through PFSCM click here. Requested information includes organization details, products you require, quantities, funding availability and funding source, product delivery details, and the level of urgency of your requirement.

– Kira Maixner
Source PFSCM
Photo UNJLC