2015 Master Agriculturist Jim Fitzgerald, who is co-owner of Soaring Eagle Dairy in Manitowoc County, Wis., shared these photos of the shipping container that left his home on Dec. 6, headed for the port in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

According to Fitzgerald, the container is filled with supplies that he collected to send to Sister Maria Marciano in Haiti, who is working with poor families. Supplies include: a two-row potato planter; 310 school desks; 270 stackable chairs; ladders; 27 large boxes of hand and power tools; more than 600 pounds of bar soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes; school supplies; several thousand pounds of medical equipment and supplies; over-the-counter medicines; 800 bath towels; and baby bottles and formula.

This container is expected to arrive in the Dominican Republic by Dec. 31.

2-ROW PLANTER: Included in the shipping container is a two-row potato planter bound for Haiti.

In addition, there were four large pallets of dental equipment to set up the first dental clinic in Los Cacaos, Haiti.

“This is the area our mission groups travel to, and Dr. Chris Hansen from Two Rivers, Wis., has a 10-day dental trip planned for February in that area,” Fitzgerald says. “In total, the container is filled with 39,800 pounds of needed items for two of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.”

Fitzgerald sent another shipping container in 2016 loaded with a used tractor, medical supplies and other supplies.

The Green Bay Diocese mission group is working with Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, Wis., to send eight nursing students and one or two doctors to Haiti in 2018.

To learn more about this project, visit sistermariahaiti.com.