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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2005

CONTACT: A Call To Serve
(573) 875-0268
or
Robert Ross
(573) 874-7220

First salt repacking machines to be shipped to Georgian sister city on
Monday
									
	(COLUMBIA, MO) - The first components for a long-term iodine
supply chain soon will be on their way to Columbia's sister city in
the country of Georgia.
	A 20-ton shipping container will leave Columbia Monday morning
destined for the city of Kutaisi (koo-TIE-see), Georgia. It will include
two locally designed salt repacking machines made by Orthman Conveying
Systems and medical equipment, including anesthesia machines and
respirators. As has been the custom with previous humanitarian shipments
to this sister city, supporters will conduct a brief ceremony to see the
container off, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Premier Moving and Storage,
2207 Nelwood Drive.
	Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman, honorary chair of the Salt
Solution 2005 campaign, and Trish Blair, M.D., president of A Call To
Serve-International, will preside.
 	"Columbia residents were quick to help four years ago when we
first made them aware that families in our sister city had no access to
iodine, such a commonly available nutrient in our country," Blair
said. "They have generously continued to support our efforts as
we've moved toward a self-sustaining system for getting iodized
salt to the children and pregnant women of Kutaisi. And now, that goal
is coming into view."
	When the first drive began, more than half of Kutaisi's
schoolchildren suffered from advanced thyroid goiter due to iodine
deficiency. Thanks to the three previous campaigns, that number now is
down to 28 percent. An in-country repackaging facility, once in place,
should help the city's health officials reduce that number even more
substantially, Blair said. At the site workers will repackage bulk bags
of iodized salt into smaller containers for household consumption.
	The 2005 campaign raised more than $30,000, the highest total of
all four sister-city salt drives, which began in 2001, Blair said.
Although the initial goal was to purchase a building in Kutaisi,
donations up to this point will not cover the cost to renovate and
upgrade an existing structure to food-grade standards. The alternate
approach will be to house the repacking activities together with a
similar food production facility, Blair said. Donation of a used truck
or van also will be sought to provide a reliable means of delivery to
distribution points, she added.
	In addition to A Call To Serve and the city of Columbia, major
campaign sponsors include the Parkade Center, Orthman Conveying Systems,
MU Greek Week 2005, Cumulus Broadcasting/KFRU 1400 AM, the Add Sheet, US
Cellular, Country Kitchen, Gerbes, Schnucks, Hy-Vee and Deanna and Barry
Pryor.	
	For information about the drive or how to give, visit
www.acalltoserve.org.

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