PHOTOS BY JENNIFER COLTON
Yards of donated flannel are being transformed into cloth diapers by the capable volunteers of Altrusa International of Hermiston. Next month, those garments will be on the way to parents who need them in the high Andes of Peru.
“The people that live there don’t have access to certain things. One of them is diapers,” volunteer Rita Van Schoiack said.
On Tuesday, one group of volunteers gathered at Hermiston’s First United Methodist Church to put together the diapers assembly-line style. They ironed, cut, measured and stitched the flannel into colorful cloth diapers.
The women hope to have more than 100 diapers ready for shipment by the end of April; by an hour into the second work party, they had already created 70.
The connection with Peru came from Anna Rademacher, who has been involved with sending donations to Peruvian villages for years. Representatives from Altrusa approached Rademacher about possible projects because she maintains a list of items needed for the village.
“The list really includes everything: ATVs to sheets of metal to rubber boots to aspirin to eyeglasses,” Van Schoiack said. “Basically it’s recycling. The idea is taking things we don’t use any more and putting them to use. You may think that rusty tool in your shed is just trash, but the people here certainly don’t think so.”
The diapers and other donated supplies will be shipped in a container to Peru at the end of April.
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