Major Relief Effort to Aid Honduras Victims of Hurricane Mitch
13 November 1998
Major Relief Effort to Aid Honduras Victims of Hurricane Mitch Launched by Associates at Lear Corporation Plant in Duncan, S.C.
DUNCAN, S.C., Nov. 12 -- What started as a service project to
help a colleague's hurricane-stricken family in Honduras by the 100 associates
employed at the Lear Corporation seating plant here has turned
into a community-wide project to reach out to the thousands of Hondurans left
homeless and hurting in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch.
Judith Rodriguez came to the United States from Honduras six months ago
and has been working in quality control at Lear since August. In late
October, Hurricane Mitch decimated numerous villages in the Honduran State of
Olancho, including Catacamas, Juticalpa and San Esteban where her two sons,
parents, grandmother and other family members live. Her family and some
20,000 other villagers have lost everything.
Described by the Washington Post as one of the most devastating Atlantic
storms in decades, Mitch killed 10,000 people or more, mostly in Honduras and
Nicaragua. Reports from Honduras, the Central American country hardest hit by
the hurricane, estimate that new homes will be required for approximately 1.4
million people, about a quarter of the population. In Catacamas alone, Mayor
Freddy Salgado reports that some 20,000 villagers are homeless and the fate of
those in nearby mountain villages is unknown, as they can only be reached by
helicopter. There were catastrophic losses of the crops that are the mainstay
of the Honduran economy.
When fellow associates on Lear-Duncan's Service Committee learned about
the impact of Hurricane Mitch on Judith Rodriguez's family and other
villagers, they launched Operation: Honduras Relief, as part of the
committee's community outreach mission. A list of needed items -- ranging
from baby food and rice to flashlights, charcoal and bandages -- was
distributed to associates, who began bringing donations to the plant.
Then word of Lear-Duncan's Operation: Honduras Relief began to spread.
Local television coverage expanded the effort, as the community responded with
vans and station wagons pulling up to the plant to drop off donations of food,
clothing and relief supplies.
"The response from our associates to Operation: Honduras Relief has been
tremendous, with associates in each area of the plant working hard to gather
donations and encourage community participation," said Lear-Duncan Plant
Manager Billy Williams. "It has been especially gratifying to all of us at
Lear to see the outpouring of generosity from area residents and organizations
in support of this worthwhile relief effort."
St. Francis Hospital System in Greenville donated $35,000 worth of medical
supplies. Miracle Hill in Greenville assembled two tractor-trailers of summer
clothing. Plastical in Spartanburg is donating $15,000 worth of rolled
plastic sheeting, which will provide temporary roofing for thousands of homes.
D.S. Benore, a transport company based in Greenville, has agreed to handle
donation pickup, storage and loading of ocean containers. Circle
International, a freight carrier based in Charlotte, has agreed to transport
the donated goods to Honduras.
On Saturday, Judith Rodriguez boards a flight, paid for by Lear-Duncan,
bound for Honduras' capital city of Tegucigalpa to visit her family and bring
her two sons back with her to America. Her brothers and several neighbors
will meet her at the airport. From there, they will begin a lengthy trip --
probably on horseback -- to take her and an initial shipment of relief
supplies to villages in Olancho. The hurricane has demolished the roads and
bridges along the route that would normally be a two-hour trip by car. The
rebuilding of infrastructure is underway as part of the country's restoration
effort and is critical to getting relief supplies to remote villages.
The Lear-Duncan Service Committee, headed by Assistant Controller Rob
Merritt, is coordinating donations of materials from the attached list of
needed supplies that is updated regularly on the Honduras Government's web
site (http://www.honduras.com). Donations are being accepted between 8 a.m. and
4 p.m. weekdays through Friday, November 20 at the Lear-Duncan plant at 1825
East Main Street, east of I-85 (exit 63).
Companies and organizations interested in making large-volume donations of
goods or services should contact Rob Merritt at Lear-Duncan at 864-433-1845.
Shipments of the donated goods are scheduled to begin the week of
November 23.
Lear Corporation, a Fortune 500 company based in Southfield, Michigan, is
one of the world's largest automotive suppliers, with 1997 sales of $7.3
billion. The company's world-class products are designed, engineered and
manufactured by more than 60,000 employees in over 200 facilities located in
28 countries on six continents. Information about Lear and its products is
available on the Internet at http://www.lear.com.
Lear-Duncan began operations in 1994, providing "just-in-time" seat
assembly for the BMW automobile assembly plant in Spartanburg. Lear-Duncan
currently builds seats for the BMW Z3 Roadster. A building expansion launched
in August will allow the plant to add seat production for a new sports
activity vehicle also to be built by BMW at the Spartanburg plant.
Fact Sheet
OPERATION: HONDURAS RELIEF
A project coordinated by the Lear-Duncan Service Committee
What: A community service project of the associates employed at Lear-
Duncan to assemble donations of relief supplies to aid victims of Hurricane
Mitch in the Central American country of Honduras.
When: Donations of relief supplies are being accepted at Lear-Duncan
weekdays from 8 a.m. through 4 p.m. through Friday, November 20, 1998.
Where: Lear-Duncan, 1825 E. Main Street (east of I-85 at exit 63),
Duncan, S.C.
Why: Lear-Duncan became involved when associates learned that fellow
associate Judith Rodriguez's family members and others in villages throughout
the Honduran State of Olancho were left homeless and lost everything when
Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras, Nicaragua and neighboring Central
American countries in late October.
How: Donations received by Friday, November 20 will be transported
beginning the week of November 23.
Contact: Rob Merritt, Lear-Duncan Assistant Controller and head of the
plant's Service Committee, 864-433-1845.