SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - On Wednesday, May 6, The Volunteer Center serving San Francisco and San Mateo counties honored MedShare with the Volunteer Choice Award at their annual "Hats off! A Celebration Volunteer Heroes!" sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. The Volunteer Choice Award recognizes MedShare as the favorite nonprofit organization chosen by Bay Area volunteers.
MedShare opened in fall of 2008 in San Leandro. It is dedicated to improving the environment and healthcare through the recovery and redistribution of surplus medical supplies and equipment to underserved healthcare facilities in developing countries.
"We are so honored to receive this award, and are incredibly grateful to all the volunteers that have helped us grow so rapidly! It's because of our passionate volunteers that MedShare has been able to give these medical supplies a second chance to save lives in the developing world," said Terry Monday, MedShare's Volunteer Manager.
MedShare collects unused surplus medical supplies from Bay Area hospitals. After the supplies are brought to MedShare, trained and dedicated volunteers sort and repackage the supplies in preparation to send them to needy healthcare facilities across the globe.
Since opening in October, MedShare has had 1,159 volunteers totaling 5,250 hours served sorting and repackaging supplies, along with other helpful duties. In conjunction with National Volunteer Appreciation week, four MedShare volunteers were honored with the President's Volunteer Service Award for donating 100 volunteer hours or more:
- John Morton of Hayward
- Joanna Hansen-Morton of Hayward
- Dr. Karen Rice of Alamo
- Mary Haupt of Pleasanton
"I love volunteering at MedShare because I'm a part of something that's helping our environment and doctors that do medical work abroad and here. The volunteers that serve at MedShare come because they want to be there and they really believe in the mission," said John Morton, who's served over 250 hours since September.
About MedShare International
MedShare International is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to bridging the gap between surplus and need through the collection and redistribution of surplus medical supplies and equipment to healthcare institutions in economically developing countries. Since MedShare's inception in 1999, the organization has retrieved more than $60 million in surplus medical supplies and equipment from U.S. donors and shipped over 450 forty-foot medical aid containers to healthcare facilities all over the world. For more information, please visit the organization's website at www.medshare.org.
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