St. Louis HELP Thanks Volunteers That Collected More Than 15 Tons of Home Health Equipment on May 14

May 25, 2016, St. Louis, Missouri…Between 9 am and 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 14th, 49 volunteers, 11 staff six Board members and three dogs braved windy, chilly weather to help collect more than 15 tons of health equipment for the St. Louis Health Equipment Lending Program, a feat that Executive Director Laura Cannon-Singer called “amazing and inspiring.”

“Twice a year we conduct home health equipment drives -- without dedicated volunteers those events would be a bust,” said Cannon-Singer, who founded the nonprofit organization known as St. Louis HELP in 2008. The group cleans and revitalizes used home health equipment for free loans to people suffering from accidents, illness or disability (http://www.stlhelp.org).

“We are extremely lucky that our organization is largely comprised of volunteers who work at our warehouse, at our special events and at our equipment drives – without them we couldn’t survive.”

“We are very grateful for support from St. Louis County that enabled our recent equipment drive, which was funded by a grant from the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health utilizing County landfill surcharge funds. And we are extremely thankful for participation by Walgreen’s. ”

The May 14 event occurred at 14 Walgreen’s parking lots in St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin County and southwestern Illinois, where donors dropped off used home health equipment they no longer need. St. Louis HELP volunteers arrived early that chilly morning to serve as check-in helpers, equipment loaders and truck drivers to transport donated equipment to St. Louis HELP’s warehouse in Olivette. A total of 299 people donated 1,313 different items during the drive.

All equipment donations to St. Louis HELP are tax deductible. “We collect about 11,000 items of donated home health equipment annually,” Cannon-Singer said. “We revitalize it for loans or recycle it all. Good parts of broken equipment are used for repairs. If any equipment is not good enough for your grandmother to use, we won’t loan it out,” she said.

In 2015 St. Louis HELP loaned 5,570 health equipment items for free and, in doing so, diverted about 150 tons of equipment from solid waste landfills.” Between June 2008 through December 31, 2015, St. Louis HELP:

· Loaned 380.76 tons of reconditioned home health equipment for free

· Forwarded 83.12 tons of home health equipment to partner charities

· Actively recycled 324.54 tons of unusable home health items, and

· In total, diverted 788.42 tons of used home health items from landfills.

“We are very fortunate that our volunteers are from every walk of life – from students to working people and executives, retirees and more. Everyone seems to have a special skill or knowledge that they offer. St. Louis HELP is truly blessed,” Cannon-Singer said.

No matter what home health item you may need, St. Louis HELP probably has it. The group loans manual and power wheelchairs, scooters, canes, crutches, walkers, shower chairs, grab bars, elevated toilet seats, portable commodes, lift chairs, seating cushions, back supports, folding ramps, stair lifts and almost any other type of medical device. Child-sized and super-sized items are often available.

“We assist hundreds of people every month,” Cannon-Singer said. “Calls to our warehouse for equipment loans are increasing -- In 2015, requests for free loans increased 21.1 percent over those in 2014. We constantly look for donations of new and previously used home health equipment and, yes, financial donations.”

St. Louis HELP’s next equipment drive will occur on Saturday, October 8, 2016. Please call (314) 567-4700 or see the website http://stlhelp.org/ for information.

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