Used tools to help repair hurricane damage in Cuba

Used tools to help repair hurricane damage in Cuba
By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff

Monday, July 6
BRATTLEBORO -- If you have a pair of pliers, an old screwdriver or a
hammer lying around that you never use, you might want to think about
donating them to Pastors for Peace.

On Tuesday evening, at 7 p.m. outside the Dianich Gallery behind the
Robert H. Gibson River Garden, the Vermont-Cuba Solidarity Group will be
packing up used tools to send to Cuban carpenters, craftspeople and
handymen.

The tools will be used to help repair damage from Hurricane Paloma,
which struck the island nation last year.

Donated tools should be of good quality, but can be in need of some
simple repairs, said Dan MacArthur, who with Judy Greenberg and Francie
Marbury, have coordinated the tool collection.

Some of the tools that could be useful include hammers, screw drivers,
pliers, hand saws, power tools such as circular saws and drills, hand
saws and pruning tools, files and sharpening stones, small electrical
and plumbing tools, wire cutters and pipe wrenches.

"We have gotten the most wonderful eclectic bunch of stuff donated,"
said MacArthur.

Recently, he had to turn down a wood lathe because it was too heavy.

There is only enough room for 350 pounds of tools from the Brattleboro
area, said MacArthur, and the wood lathe would have taken up half of
that weight allotment.

"Three hundred and 50 pounds of hand tools is not that much," he said.

The Vermont-Cuba Solidarity Group is not asking for
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donations of new tools, said MacArthur.

"There's enough good stuff kicking around, which can have a complete new
life of its own," he said.

The Vermont-Cuba Solidarity Group will continue to take tools right up
until the last packing crate is sealed.

At 7:30 p.m., members of Pastors for Peace will talk about their mission
and the impacts of the United States' embargo on the Cuban people. On
Wednesday, the tools and their escorts will be leaving for Cuba as part
of the 20th annual Pastors for Peace Caravan.

Pastors for Peace is an inter-religious non-profit organization which
has taken a caravan loaded with humanitarian aid to Cuba for 20 years.

While they are taking tools this year, in other years they have carried
medicines, bicycles and other humanitarian aid.

Pastors for Peace have vowed to continue their assistance to the Cuban
people until the United States ends its embargo on Cuba.

Pastors for Peace is less about religion and more about politics and
humanitarianism, said MacArthur, who is a carpenter, musician and farmer
from Marlboro.

For more information on the tool collection or the Vermont-Cuba
Solidarity Group, contact MacArthur at 802-257-7328 or Greenberg at
802-254-7395.

Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311,
ext. 273.

Used tools to help repair hurricane damage in Cuba - Brattleboro
Reformer (6 July 2009)
http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_12760529