Last week, during a tour of Baldor's Oshkosh, Wisc., generator facility, I happened to see on the wall a letter thanking the company for their donation of a generator to power the main hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti after the recent earthquake. I asked about it, and was told the story. I also heard that Baldor was going to put it in their in-house employee magazine. So far as I know, they've made no public announcement about this.
So, in the interest of thanking Baldor publicly for their generosity which has undoubtedly saved literally hundreds of lives, here's some of the story (as published in the Baldor Current):
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Everyone knows about the devastating earthquake and aftershocks in Haiti just a few months ago. Many Baldor employees have probably given money for Haitians through their churches or other agencies, but Baldor has gone a step further by supplying needed power to a hospital there, and also to an adjoining orphanage.
Baldor employees Mike and Suzanne Mush started the process this past January. The Mushes knew of an adoption agency in Tulsa, because several years ago they were in the process of adopting a son. After the Haitian quake, Suzanne called the Tulsa agency, Dillon International, to see if they knew of an orphanage in Haiti. As it turned out, they had a working relationship with the Foundation for the Chidren of Haiti. All along, Suzanne and Mike were thinking about Baldor generators from our plant in Oshkosh, WI.
Suzanne called Jeff Hubert, vice president/general manager, asking if we could send a generator, and soon after, John Raber, general sales manager called Suzanne with the good news. We had a large 100 kW diesel, liquid cooled generator available and were ready to help. Service Manager Kegan Collins donated his time to the reconfiguration that was needed to adapt the Baldor Oshkosh generator to fit the installation in Haiti.
The Baldor generator, weighing 5400 lbs, was sent by truck from our Oshkosh plant to Miami, where the foundation was flying a chartered plane back and forth to Haiti with relief supplies like medicine, water and blankets. The chartered plane was able to fly the generator to Haiti. The generator is now providing emergency power to the Children's Village and adjoining hospital, Hope Hospital, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
"The hospital was holding off doing surgeries because they were afraid their old generator would not make it through an entire surgery, so this Baldor genertor is literally saving lives," says Suzanne, manager of Baldor's travel department. "Mike and I are both extremely proud to work for such a generous company like Baldor, and we hope that many Baldor Oshkosh employees and others will know that they played a part in helping the people of Haiti."
Gladys Thomas, director of The Foundation for the Children of Haiti, wrote this to suzanne: "I want to thank you and the Baldor team for equipping the hospital with such a vital piece of equipment, without which we could not operate at all. It is helping the many patients at the hospital and also the children, and we thank you so very much. We want you to know that we will never forget this gesture of love and solidarity wiht the Haitian people at such a difficult time. May God continue to bless you and the whole Baldor team."
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