Big bucks to help local Big Give effort

By Susan Pugh

Published: April 25, 2008

The sum of $21,000 might not sound like much in the grand scheme of things. But add $10,000, and Gleaning for the World said it could use the total $31,000 to leverage $1.7 million worth of medical supplies and shoes for people in Africa.

That must have impressed the folks at Oprah’s Big Give and ABC TV. This past week, they turned over $10,000 through local ABC affiliate WSET TV to Gleaning to match the $21,000 pledged for the effort by people in Central and Southwest Virginia, said John Crumpler of WSET.

Oprah’s Big Give first challenged individuals, then others, including ABC TV affiliates, to compete to see who could do the most good if given seed money. Those who came up with the most creative, far-reaching and/or financially effective projects, and then showed they could back up their ideas through fundraising, might qualify to receive seed money. They had to submit formal proposals.
Locally, the fundraising effort for Gleaning started on March 25, with a deadline of April 20.

“The people of Central Virginia are just superb people,” said the Rev. Ronald T. Davidson, founder, president and CEO of the Concord-based charity.

Gleaning is using the money to send four planeloads of medical supplies and shoes to Africa, where medical problems like AIDS/HIV have ravaged populations, with one load going to Liberia and the three others to Kenya. The funds will help get the supplies and shoes there quickly, and in the most secure and efficient way possible, he said.

“If you look at the medical care and shoes, we’re talking about (helping) as many people as there are in Lynchburg, Virginia,” Davidson said.

It won’t be medical care on par with that provided by CentraHealth, he said, but it will trump no care, which is what the people now receive.

Gleaning will use some of the funds to supply a mobile medical unit specially designed for harsh road and climate conditions that can sideline the “normal” medical van in a matter of weeks or months. The new unit has to be “a tough piece of stuff,” Davidson said.

“Shoes will be given to people who have never had a pair of shoes in their lives,” Davidson said. That might not seem like much, but from the point of view of protecting people’s health, the impact can be huge in an area where parasites — or actually the treatment to rid the body of parasites — can kill children.

For people who earn $300 or $400 tops a year, a $60 pair of shoes for each member of a family might be beyond imagining, he said.

Under U.S. regulations, the medical supplies might have to be trashed, but could still be used in other parts of the world.

Of the ability to turn $10,000 plus $21,000 into $1.7 million, he said, “You just thank God for the chance to do that.”