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w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m July 2014 • /insight on manufacturing | 21 organizations to prevent items from ending up on the black market, says Deborah Wetter, president of appleton Downtown Rotary. international children's Fund regularly visits the sites of the donations to ensure they're being used as intended and requests photographs of the materials in use. since these organizations depend on donations from area companies and organizations, showing the impact of the donations can help build confidence in the projects and continue the pipeline of giving. "We're empowering people who may never receive something like this at any time in their lives and to have that one thing is a true gi," Fulcer says. cost to recycling, but it is the right thing to do for the environment." azco in menasha also has donated to international children's Fund, giving used office furniture and things like ladders, hoists, older power tools, hoses and extension cords. "to me, it's a win-win for everybody," says bruce sherman, azco purchasing manager. "We obviously get a charitable contribution that we can take, and we're giving stuff away that other countries or people or somebody can use." international children's Fund accepts things like ladders that are no longer osha compliant for use in a business setting but are still "lifesaving tools" overseas, Fulcer says. similarly, Rotary accepts donations of medical equipment that can't be used here because of regulations, such as packages of surgical scrubs that have been opened. international children's Fund also partners with and receives donations from Rotary international, which ships containers loaded with medical supplies overseas each year through its sharing around (the World) medical project, or samp. ese organizations also have checks and balances in place to ensure that the items get to the people who need it. Rotary international ensures it connects with other Rotary For us to even have the donations to ship these things is priceless." e international children's Fund also has received donations from other area manufacturing and service companies that oen are used for things other than their intended purpose. For example, polyethelene billboard posters from lamar advertising of De pere have ended up as flooring and roofing in haiti and africa, Fulcer says. "When it comes to the roofing supplies or the flooring supplies, that's the difference between sleeping on the cold or wet ground or ground that's overridden by insects and rodents," Fulcer says. Don snyder, general manager and vice president of lamar advertising, said his company began donating used billboard posters made of flexible, waterproof polyethylene to help the people in haiti who needed shelter aer the earthquake in 2010. lamar also donated a shipment to oklahoma aer the devastating tornado last year. "We want to be a part of the community, whether it's here or haiti, or wherever in the country," snyder says. "if we can help somebody out, we're going to do that." in some cases, donating excess materials can help a company save fees associated with landfilling or recycling. other times companies take a loss when they could otherwise sell the scrap material to recyclers. but company leaders all say they'd rather see the material be used by someone who needs it rather than to dispose of it. h.J. martin & son also donates excess material to habitat for humanity or st. Vincent de paul, and the company rarely disposes of material that hasn't been used – even used carpets and pads that are torn out are recycled. "ere is a Security-Luebke Roofing in Kaukauna donated roofing to International Children's Fund in Neenah. Charitable organizations like International Children's Fund often can find life-saving uses for material overseas that might otherwise be landfilled or recycled in the United States. » International children's fund https://icfaid.org » rotary's sharing around (the World) Medical project www.focol.org/aprotary/ Sampweb/index.asp h.J. Martin's flooring donation to the neenah-based International children's fund, which sent the materials to liberia and sierra leone, included about 13,480 square feet of flooring valued at $35,296, including: » 2,565 square feet of ceramic and porcelain floor and wall tile, bullnose and wall base. » 6,375 square feet of vinyl tile and rubber flooring » 1,250 square feet of wood and laminate » 3,290 square feet of carpet tile on the Web by the numbers