Donated Bus Sets Sail for Ghana
Donated NJ school bus travels to Ghana providing much needed transportation for patients
On June 29, the Himalayan Cataract Project received a bus donation from the Hackettstown, NJ Rotary and Stocker Bus Co. of Newton, NJ. The school bus, decommissioned in June 2017, had been used to bring NJ students to school for the past fifteen years. In its retirement the bus will transport hundreds of Ghanaians seeking eye care services to the Eye Centre at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi. The bus left aboard a ship from the Port of Bayonne, NJ on Friday, July 14 and is currently underway with a scheduled arrival date in Ghana of August 2.
HCP would like to thank Hackettstown, NJ Rotarian, Sandi Vaessen for her efforts in procuring the bus and Stocker Bus Co. President Denise Current for the generous donation. The bus donation was initiated by Sandi, who was inspired after attending an HCP presentation at Johnson & Johnson last fall. She and Denise have worked together previously to place buses with other international causes. Denise is a longtime philanthropist who has donated her buses, funds and time for a multitude of good causes, she is also an active Rotarian in Newton, NJ.
The Hackettstown NJ Rotary has also pledged funds to pay for the bus’ transport from the U.S. to Africa and will be looking at new ways to support HCP in 2018. Rotary International is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who come together to make positive, lasting change in communities at home and abroad (rotary.org, 2017).
Photos by: Hackettstown, NJ Rotarian Robert D. Eberle
