Hammocks For Haiti

[MacEntyre]

Perhaps this would be a more viable solution for the displaced people in Haiti.

Gargoyle has a specific request for hammocks, Brian!

[gargoyle]

I don't care what it is that folks want to send for the relief effort..tents, tarps, money,...it will all go to the people and they can decide what to do with it!!

I brought up the idea of hammocks because thats what we do! Hammocks are the bread and butter of why we are all here. PERIOD.

If anyone feels that they have something, anything to offer, no matter how trivial, I'm open to discuss it, here or via a PM. Or just send it.

I saw a news report where looters in Haiti found a bag of bouncy balls?? The people were going crazy and fighting over bouncy balls?? When you have nothing, everything is of value.

Old tents, tarps, hammocks...I'm not going to put limits on what folks want to contribute, if you think its a good idea, send it!

Brian, those are awesome shelters. Can you sew a few of those up??

[Dutch]

I checked out my walmart and tehy have a very good supply of digital camo right now. I think it is about 3 ounces per yard, but it will work well for this. If anyone doesn't have access to cheap material but still want to sew let me know and I will get you some.

[sandykayak]

Turns out I have 3 pieces of wally-uncoated totaling 29 yards - 4 (60" w), 12 (64" w, 13 68") can't find the card I wrote it on, but this is close. As someone else mentioned, I think cutting it across the width will be more productive.

However, the temps are in the high 80s now and I'm concerned that these might be uncomfortable. NOt that we shouldn't send them, but perhaps we need to look into alternative fabrics.

I have quite a few yards of brightly colored printed rayons (from when I made and sold sarongs in the Key Largo flea market!), that I'm going to include. As long as the fabric is cut on the straight (and not on the diagonal) it should stretch too much - I hope. On second thought, just send them the fabric and let the women cut/tear their own wrap-arounds...OHMYGOD....I have LOTS (80+?) ready-made sarongs that are ideal for warm weather...and they are in gorgeous tropical prints that will fit their lifestyle and cheer them up.

I'm thinking as I write....Miami-DAde County send out a notice that certain public entities (libraries was one) are accepting items and I was planning to give them my brand new (only set it up once to see if I could do it solo!) one bedroom plus screen room - ab 7' high tent. Plus I'll check out some others (I recently donated about 4 small tents to Goodwill!).

It will be prohibitively (and pointless, really) for me to pay huge shipping costs so I will look around for an org that has a Miami location (we have a large Haitian community) where I can drop them off. back to the hammocks..

I grew up in Venezuela and slept in a hammock on many occasions. South American hammocks are usually made of woven cotton (sometimes polyester string) either with or without holes - think Mayan hammocks.

What I'm wondering is whether (and perhaps someone else knows the answer) if anyone is planning to buy new fabric, we shouldn't look into cotton (or polycotton) for a cooler sleep.

Now I have to dig around the garage to look for that netting. I would suggest sending it one piece as it good be draped over several children in hammocks - or on mats.

gargoyle PM'd me and the package will go to the school for the deaf in New York: win-win-win situation.

[MacEntyre]

...wondering ...look into cotton (or polycotton) for a cooler sleep.

WM has lots of cotton and polycotton...

[gargoyle]

sandykayak, good point on the shipping cost..
If anyone wants to donate items, they can also take them to their local Red Cross. I'm not positive, but I think the Red Cross will disperse the items to Haiti for you. Lots of local efforts for relief are in place. If the cost of shipping is prohibitive, take your donations to a local relief site..
Great Idea.

[Harpo63]

WM has lots of cotton and polycotton...

That does make sense... using cotton... or mayan style hammocks. We'll make what we can with the given material- As Im not an expert in DIY hammocks, please advise if certain materials should not be used or what kind of cotton material should be used.

[sandykayak]

Most of the major NGOs (non-govt. orgs) ie red cross - want money. They can buy things in huge quantities for good prices. clothing, blankets etc. require a lot of sorting.

However, the smaller groups are probably the best way to go. It's just a matter of finding them. Our current hammock project is perfect because they have requested hammocks and can distribute them.

I emailed a contact in the Miami Herald because I had seen (but not saved) a list of orgs and she said. Wait - for my sarongs, which are clothing.

One other thing, I thought of. They are used to hanging hammocks with plain ol' ropes. don't need fancy suspensions etc. but do need a hole/loop through which to pass the ropes. we would really need to provide ropes as well. I have a pair that came with a venezuelan string hammock that i will send with the fabric and will check through the kayaking supplies.

I think we could inexpensively buy and donate packages of plastic (!) or whatever rope available in wal-mart, home depot etc.

i know i've seen a site that sells mosquito nets. i'm sure it had to do with buying nets to donate to needy countries. perhaps someone can have some fun googling?

ideally, if we could find a wholesaler (or manufacturer) of mosquito nets who would give us a special price since it's for Haiti donations, we could pass the hat - sort of like a group buy. could HF use their paypal account for this without screwing up their accounting?

I think we need to send the whole package: hammock, ropes, mosquito netting.

[ref103]

GI Type Mosquito Netting
$21.95 -- GI Type Mosquito Netting. GI Type Mosquito Netting 20 yards x 60" wide

Purchase GI Type Mosquito Netting

GI Type Mosquito Netting 8089 G.I. TYPE MOSQUITO NETTING

20YD X 60"
Polypropylene
Polybagged
http://www.vtarmynavy.com/gi-type-mosquito-netting.htm

would this work for mosquito netting for you? i was going to buy it and send it to you but i want to make sure it will work first. sorry i didn't know how to put the link to take you right to it.

[ref103]

oh. i guess i did it right . anyways i think this would be ok.