By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
BATH — A church in North Carolina’s oldest town has joined local efforts to help heal the suffering in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
Bath Church of God, with support from other area congregations and the community at large, is working to fill a 40-foot-long freight container with donations for Haitian residents, according to pastor Ron Bousquet.
“We’re working with the Cary Church of God and Operation Compassion,” Bousquet said. “We’re hoping to fill this container, and then they’ll send a truck to pick it up.”
The effort began Feb. 1 and runs until March 1, Bousquet said. Food Lion stores in Washington, Belhaven and Plymouth also are collecting donations to help fill the container.
Cary Church of God has several freight containers its congregation is attempting to fill and send to Haiti.
According to Bousquet, Operation Compassion is in need of basic food items, including canned milk, canned meats, canned fish and canned vegetables, as well as bottled water and nutritional drinks.
Donations of blankets, buckets, coolers, rope and tarps are desperately needed, Bousquet said.
Hygiene kits — packed with toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, comb and soap — are welcome, as are bulk donations of soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, storage bags to hold fresh water, feminine-hygiene products and water-treatment purification tablets.
Because of the numerous injuries suffered during the earthquake and subsequent recovery operations, Operation Compassion also is seeking medical supplies.
“We’d like to have used crutches and braces, and clean bandages,” Bousquet said.
Also on the list are alcohol and bacterial wipes, cold and hot packs, scissors, infant cots, gauze, latex gloves, hydrogen peroxide and adhesive bandages in assorted sizes.
Essential medications — including antibiotics, antibacterial ointments, aspirin, acetaminophen, benadryl and vitamins are among the other items being collected.
Bousquet reminded those donating items to check expiration dates of the products.
For more information about making donations, contact Bousquet at 252-923-9958, or Melanie Box, Bath Church of God’s mission representative, at 252-217-5986.