KEZI 9 News interviewed one of our very own Rotary members in a video seen here.

Lauren Alexander and Southtowne Rotary Club are making it their mission to collect and send medical supplies to places like Africa. One look inside the many warehouses used to store his donated medical supplies shows the enormity of the task he is taking on. Alexander’s first request was some linens and bed sheets to send to Uganda but his piles of donations started from someone else paying it forward.

After ABC’S hit show “Secret Millionaire” came to town, the Oakridge Fire Department was awarded money for a new fire truck. So, the firefighters and the Oakridge City Council gifted the old one to Dr. Ellen Heinitz and her husband who then sent it to the Congo along with a large shipment of medical supplies. Alexander and Eugene Southtowne Rotary Club took notice and started collecting medical supplies from places like Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend. The ambulance is already logging the miles, and it’s now used as a mobile medical unit.

“The reports I get back of what they are able to do with just sending some simple supplies, it changes peoples lives,” Alexander said.

“It’s just amazing how much influence he’s had on these donations,” said Lonny King, President of Southtowne Rotary.

Some of the donations are distributed locally as well, giving to Whitebird, the Eugene Mission and St. Vincent de Paul. Alexander says the next shipment abroad will be going to the Ivory Coast in Africa.

A stethoscope is like a gold mine, proving that simple donations go a long way. “They often have nothing. They have a doctor and a nurse, but no equipment,” said Alexander.

“What’s nice is it not only helps them, but it brings people together in our community in different Rotary Clubs working together to make these things happen,” King said.

For more information on Alexander’s cause you can e-mail him or contact Southtowne Rotary at (541) 388-4074.