Hazeltons On-line
Smithers/Telkwa On-line
Houston/Topley On-line
Gransle On-line
Burns Lake On-line

PAGE TWO
OF THREE

HomeSearch past articles

Project Hope
Operation Hope began several years ago, when individuals noticed how many 'thrift' clothes were being sent to garbage dumps and how many of them were still useful. Beginning in Southern BC with just a couple of volunteers, the plan was simple: package clothes and ship them anywhere in the world, as needed.
Can you imagine, 1600 boxes?
Here in Smithers, what's it all about? Community service and personal fun come to mind. The calls come in to the local ADRA twice monthly from the hospital auxiliary's New to You shop, as well as some from the Salvation Army, as the overflow piles up in their storage area. Volunteers from as far away as Kitwanga are responsible for ferrying them from their places to the processing site, a simple basement.

A group of volunteers, up to 20 at a time, begins by taping cardboard boxes together. These boxes come from Hope, BC, and arrive flattened for shipping purposes. The group then begins sorting the clothes, which arrive in garbage bags. There are almost always at least 100 bags in every shipment, totalling approximately 250 garbage bags per month. Since we began this project in March of 2001, we have packaged over 1,600 boxes!
Bales of clothes are compressed so that more clothes fit in the cargo container
The fun starts with the sorting. People line up and work on tables in pairs, or groups of three, to fill the bottom of the boxes. Everything must be laid out flat, to make things easier for the processing warehouse in Hope, BC (but more about that later!) and also to fit more in to the box. The boxes are handed off to the last group, to be fitted with lids and stacked in a side room. Every session, about 100 boxes are filled.

Hazeltons On-line
Smithers/Telkwa On-line
Houston/Topley On-line
Gransle On-line
Burns Lake On-line
copyright © 2001, Northwest Design, Smithers, B.C., Canada