SILENT HEROES
The outstanding successes of
the Damien The Leper Society in helping the lepers in remote regions of the
world would not have been possible without the work of our silent heroes. Our
society needs funding to acquire and deliver food, medical supplies, cleaning
supplies, etc. to the lepers. Without funding it would be impossible for our
society to provide consistent and meaningful assistance to the lepers.
Even though our society has been trying to reach donors through the internet, a
large percentage of our donors still prefer getting information through the
mail. To reach these donors, every quarter our society prepares and sends out
thousands of brochures to potential donors. Due to the large volume of each
mail-out, the preparation of each mail-out is a monumental task. Each brochure
has to be folded, and stuffed into an envelope along with our letter to the
donor. The envelope then has to be labeled and to be grouped with others in
similar postal zones so the Post Office will accept them as bulk mails.
In the early days in the history of our society, we often planned for large gatherings of volunteers in
churches or community centers in Florida and Louisiana to help with each mail
out. These large gatherings were difficult to plan and the results were
inconsistent since most volunteers were likely unfamiliar with the activities.
There were many errors with each mail-out and these errors keep our brochures
from reaching the potential donors.
Nowadays our mail-out
preparation is done by a smaller group of very dedicated volunteers. These
volunteers get together several times every week and tirelessly spend many hours stuffing,
labeling, and sorting envelopes. Without these volunteers, none of the works by
our society would be possible. While our doctors and other members tend to the
lepers in the field and are recognized for their work and able to see the happy
results. At home, our silent heroes make it all possible while remaining largely
unknown to the people they help.