Camden woman continues to rally resources for Syrians

Going to the mat for war-torn Syria: Firefighting gear, medical supplies, walkers and wheelchairs

Thu, 11/19/2015 - 7:45pm

    While Alison McKellar continues to do whatever she can for Syrians locked in their war-torn country, others in the Midcoast are stepping forward to assist her. Hope and Camden fire departments have donated unused turnout gear, the transfer station has collected old walkers and crutches that have been thrown away, and plastic used for winterizing boats has been transported to Syria for tents. And then there is the steady stream of individuals who have dropped off coats, medical supplies, and other fundamental items at McKellar’s Camden home, where she packs it all up and then drives it down to New Hampshire to Nadia Alawa.

    Alawa, in East Hampstead, has been sending relief items through the nonprofit NuDay Syria, which she and others established to help Syrians caught in their country’s growing despair. Founded in 2011, NuDay is especially concerned, the organization says in its mission statement, “with the plight and vulnerability of displaced Syrian women and girls, whose needs are often overlooked and voices not heard.... Many of these women have crossed the border to avoid military and political persecution, only to find themselves in dire circumstances with few options to safeguard their children and themselves with dignity.” (See this Boston Globe article about NuDay Syria.)

    McKellar stumbled across NuDay Syria through her own desire to help after watching the mounting conflict there.

    She took the initiative locally, and and has spent more than a year collecting personal and household goods, and transporting them in loads — nine so far — to New Hampshire.

    And she is now expanding the effort to raise funds for hospitals on warfare’s front line. It is part of a collaboration by NuDay Syria and Partners for World Health to take truckloads of medical supplies and hospital equipment to field hospitals in Syria.

    To help, Camden yoga teacher Denyse Robinson is holding her weekly 4:30 p.m. Sundays for Syria fundraiser, at High Mountain Hall. All proceeds from her Sunday community yoga class, which is open to the public, go to the medical care initiative.

    “So far we have supplied hospitals in towns in Deir Ezzor and Riif Lattakia area and in a few hospitals on the front line in Northern Syria,” said NuDay. That has since changed, given the presence of Daesh, but NuDay is still distributing medical supplies to six or seven hospitals and clinics in Idlib and Aleppo Province, said McKellar.

    The firefighting equipment from Camden went to Aleppo several months ago and was distributed to civil defense volunteers, those who rush to homes and bombing sites, said McKellar. “Sometimes, fires are a big problem, for obvious reasons. For the first several years, activists in Aleppo were mostly just dealing with attacks from the regime, but now they are increasingly under attack by ISIS, as well. It's awful.”

    She said the equipment from Hope is due to arrive in Syria in a few weeks.

    “It will likely go to Idlib, but maybe Aleppo,” she said. “We just sent an ambulance so it will likely go to the same first responder group that is using the ambulance.”

    None of this is safe or simple. While supplies get shipped to Turkey in containers, it is then unloaded and packed into the backs of trucks. From there, it is transported mostly to northwestern Syria, to Idlib Province in the countryside of Jisr Al Shughour, where a high number of displaced people have formed a series of camps.

    “Ultimately, the proximity to the Turkish border is what makes this safer than most areas of Syria,” said McKellar. “There are fewer bombings by the regime and the moderate rebels have been able to hold advances from ISIS.”

    McKellar is astounded by the Midcoast response to help. Since first collecting donations more than a year ago, she has transported nine truckloads to NuDay. Each time, she has had to increase the size of the U-Haul trucks she is renting.

    “My porch is constantly filling up,” she said. “Thank goodness Caroline Morong has started letting me use an unfilled office space to store things. I pick things up from both Waldo County and hospitals on a weekly basis and am non-stop getting new inquiries from everyone from schools to churches. A lot of people want to help and are grateful to have a tangible way to do it.”

    She is now raising money, in part, to help with the shipping costs.

    “It's all very heartwarming,” she said. “Montessori kids clean buckets that are saved for us by Ken and others at MidCoast Solid Waste. Watershed and Camden Hills students are helping with the shrink wrap. I definitely need more volunteers to help process the shrink wrap, and long-term, I really need a covered trailer and a warehouse with a loading dock. My ultimate goal is to have a donation depot that could serve both local and international needs, like the swap shop on steroids.”

    McKellar said she is getting inquiries from people wanting to donate clothes since Planet Aid is discontinuing its clothing collection practice and removing the yellow bins from the region.

    “There is a huge opportunity to waste less in our community and serve the needs of all kinds of different people,” she said. “Inevitably, people will say that the homeless veterans or local children could use these things, too. I always offer donations (if I can get permission from the donor) to local needs when I'm made aware of them, and a huge portion of the things I get actually would have been thrown out. I give things to the Hospitality House whenever they have a specific need. I really believe that if we are all more careful about not wasting things, there is plenty to go around for everyone. We don't have to choose between helping locally or helping abroad. We can and should do both.”

    With fundraising, she pulls in donations via various events. A fundraiser at Flatbread Pizza in Rockport drew $1,200; online she raised approximately $2,000. And, NuDay does its own online fundraising. With donations, NuDay Syria opened a medical clinic in Jissr Soghour for women, children, dental and vaccinations.

    After the Paris attacks, NuDay wrote on its Facebook page: “Partners for World Health and all of our volunteers stand together in support of France. What happened was wrong. But we still are determined to help those less fortunate. And today we did just that. Partnering with NuDay Syria, Partners for World a Health sent beds, walkers, exam tables, crutches, wheelchairs and over 875 boxes of medical supplies to Syria! They need help and we have what it takes to make a difference!”

    To reach McKellar, email her: alisonmckellar@gmail.com.