St. Louis HELP Volunteers Collected More Than 15 Tons of Home Health Equipment Donated on May 6

May 9, 2017, St. Louis, Missouri…Despite extensive flooding and local road closures, volunteers from the St. Louis Health Equipment Lending Program (St. Louis HELP) collected more than 1,350 home health items donated to the nonprofit organization on Saturday, May 6.

Seventy-seven volunteers, five board members, eight staff and three dogs helped collect 1,354 home health equipment items from 309 people who donated equipment at 14 designated Walgreen’s parking lots and, also, at St. Louis HELP’s warehouse in Olivette. The event took place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The cumulative value of the donated equipment is $345, 539, said Laura 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).

“Twice a year we conduct home health equipment drives to replace our equipment lending inventory -- without dedicated volunteers we couldn’t achieve our mission,” she said.

St. Louis HELP achieved an all-time record of 352.75 volunteer hours at the May 6 event. “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. Every one of our volunteers is an amazing person.”

“We are very grateful for support from St. Louis County that enabled our May 6 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 6 event occurred at 14 Walgreen’s parking lots in the City of St. Louis, St. Charles and St. Charles County and in Belleville, Illinois. Donors dropped off home health equipment they no longer need so that other people can use it. St. Louis HELP volunteers arrived early to serve as check-in helpers, equipment loaders and truck drivers to transport donated equipment to St. Louis HELP’s warehouse. 15.48 tons of solid waste was diverted from landfills during the five-hour collection event.

All equipment donations to St. Louis HELP are tax deductible, and all donors receive a voucher to claim a tax deduction.

“We collect more than 11,000 items of donated home health equipment annually,” Cannon-Singer said. “We revitalize it for loans and we recycle items that can’t be loaned. 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.

“We are 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.

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 this year loans are increasing. We constantly look for donations of new and previously used home health equipment and, yes, we accept financial donations.”

If you would like free loans of home health equipment, or to donate equipment, please call St. Louis HELP at 314-567-4700 or see the website http://stlhelp.org/. Thank you!

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