Today I opened my email and almost fell over. We had a cheerful thank you note from the mail service provider that we use telling us that we had been charged $456 for shipping service for the month. This fee comes after the almost $200 we paid in customs fees on top of that. I went back to the company’s website to remind myself that, yes, it does say that they charge $3.25 per pound to recieve anything on top of whatever random customs fees get tagged on to that.
I did the math and realized that on average, a 10 pound box of donated items is going to cost me about $50 out of pocket just to recieve. (not mentioning what it cost YOU to buy and ship as well).
It is a no-brainer to realize that this is just not good stewardship or good business sense on our part. The only positive thing in this set up, is that it gives the donor the hands-on experience of being able to be a part of buying the donations etc… and is much more meaningful and personal.
We thank you a million times to all the people who have been so generous over the past few months with all of the many gifts and donations that have come in.
At this point, however, we simply can’t afford recieving anything anymore.
We have some alternate solutions.
One.. consider coming down here yourself. Fundraise for the plane ticket ( because you are coming on a missions trip to help us) and load your suitcases up with things that you would have shipped… even better, call the airline ahead of time and ask them if you can check additional luggage at no cost because it is for charity and relief.
Two…. simply send your donations to our stateside address located at the bottom. We will arrange a quarterly trip for Corrigan to come in and get as much stuff as he can down here in his luggage. We figured that an average airline ticket is about $350-$400 and that would be well under the cost of what we have been paying to recieve supplies.
Three… ask us how much it would cost us to buy the goods here in Haiti and then donate the same amount. In this way, we are supporting local businesses here in Haiti as well as getting things much cheaper than if customs and shipping were involved. An example. Even though it is much cheaper to buy a back of paper at Walmart ( 15 cents maybe on clearance), by the time you ship it, that paper is sure to cost us around 7-8 dollars to recieve. We can buy a pack of paper at the local grocery story for around a dollar. It is a win-win situation and helps us help the economy of the poorest nation in the western hemisphere as well.
Lastly… there are things that we really do need shipped- things that we simply cannot get here in Haiti. Please email us and ask us what those things are and we will be so greatful when those kinds of things are shipped in.
We are forever thankful for your generosity and graciousness to us and to the people that we are serving. Please don’t stop giving…. it is our lifeline. We are just hoping to reconfigure the way things are recieved in order for every penny spent to make a lasting difference here in Haiti.
Blessings!
The Apparent Project
Please send donations to
The Apparent Project
4623 Denton Lane SE
Lacey, WA 98503
