Humanitarian Container Program

ACA’s International Committee has collected donations and coordinated the shipment of a 40-foot container to the Haitian Prison Authority. Materials were collected in November and December 2013 and packed into the container by Health Through Walls, a nonprofit organization in Florida that provides support to health care programs in prisons of low-income countries. Donations came from state and county facilities, such as the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, which provided blankets and uniforms no longer in use by the agency. Items also included pressure washers, office furniture, computers and other items provided to the Haitian Prison Authority.

The items arrived in Haiti in March 2014 and are being distributed according to the needs of the prison authority. ACA members have stepped up to help colleagues with fewer resources and larger needs. The container program began in 2004 as an idea of Elizabeth Gondles, Ph.D., ACA’s advisor to the president, and has sent donations to the prison systems of Tanzania, Jamaica and Haiti. Additional donation projects for other countries are being planned.