ROCKPORT — NuDay Syria volunteers will be loading a shipping container for shipment directly to Northwestern Syria today, July 21, and the public is invited to help. Through the Maine Syria Relief Project, dedicated group of Midcoast volunteers has been collecting humanitarian aid and medical supplies for more than two years and driving them to New Hampshire to be added to shipments. Today marks the first time that an entire shipping container will consist solely of donations from Midcoast Maine. 

Over the past two years, a growing group of locals has been working through NuDay Syria, a New Hampshire based nonprofit, to collect and distribute everything from non-perishable food items, to hospital beds, to repurposed marine shrink wrap for shipment to camps and health clinics inside Syria set up for families displaced by the conflict.  

Many local people have been inspired by the photos of their donations having reached families in Syria and the project has expanded from a small hobby based on the front porch of Alison McKellar's Mechanic Street home to a larger operation which now includes regular coordination with local hospitals, consignment shops, schools, and even the transfer station.

"There are a lot of generous people who have gotten involved and given their time, money, space, winter jackets, and expertise," said McKellar, in an news release. "One of the most exciting aspects is that much of the stuff that we send was actually saved from the landfill, incinerator, or scrap metal."

The group is currently storing items in the band room at Camden Hills Regional High School and will need help today, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., as they load the full-sized 40-foot shipping container, which will travel from Camden to Boston for shipment to Syria via Turkey.

McKellar also notes that the project will be in need of a new storage location after the shipment goes out.