Post Title: An Easy Pill to Swallow

Background

If you are a new reader to my blog, you will likely think I am talking about a new medicine I am taking. But if you are a regular follower of my blog, you will know that I am passionate about collecting pill bottles and recycling them to send on to those who desperately need them.

I am “the pill bottle lady,” who is known as my community liaison for collecting pill bottles. Friends, neighbors, senior centers, church groups and even clinics here have responded to my call to recycle their pill bottles. Why not? It keeps them out of our landfills.

When researching where to send them, I came across Matthew 25 Ministries in Blue Ash, a suburb near Cincinnati, Oho. They include shipments of pill bottles with medical supplies and send them to developing countries, who do not have the resources.

When I receive the pill bottles, I wash them and remove the labels, if they have any, dry them inside and out, sort them by style and color, package and box them up, following their stringent guidelines. Then I box them up and with the help of our West Country Lions Club, we send them on to Matthew 25 Ministries.

A Plethora of Pill Bottles

In December, I ran out of adhesive remover, and large bags of pill bottles stacked up in my garage. I went most of the month without working on them. Toward the end of the month, I was able to secure some more spray to remove the labels. But I’ve been playing catch-up ever since. They keep coming, which thrills me, but I never do manage to get caught up.

While I have bags waiting to be cleaned and sanitized, the boxes have been stacking up as well. I usually take one box per week to a Lion Club member, who generously takes it to the post office and ships it off to our contact point in Ohio. I had six large boxes in the garage waiting to go out.  I also had bags of clean pill bottles waiting to be sorted, packages and boxed up in addition to the kitchen sink being filled with bottles waiting to be washed, and a utility sink filled as well. It’s become quite an operation!

Teamwork

A friend of a friend comes over a couple of times a month to help me organize various projects. We were to work on choosing patches for a quilt from my brother’s hoodies. But she took one look at my place and our time morphed into the project at hand. She busied herself with filling in holes to complete boxes of pill bottles, taping them shut and labeling them while I sorted and packaged other bags. When she finished that task, she observed how I packaged them for a bit and caught on to the process quickly. Together we became prepped the pill bottles and popped them into the proper bags!

Four hours later, we had cleared out my living room, packaging all the bottles that could be done. We had only a few partial bags remaining. In that time, we had boxed up SEVEN enormous boxes of pill bottles.

“Amy, We can see your floor again!” she crowed.

“I know.”

I was so very grateful. I could never have done that on my own.

That afternoon, we both felt satisfied with our accomplishment. It gave me the idea to open it up to some of the volunteers who donated the pill bottles to join me in a work party once a month.

That would surely help me keep up with the large influx of pill bottles coming in. I had never thought of that before. We do donate the pill bottles through the auspices of the Lions Club but it’s a small group of busy individuals. So perhaps opening it up to some volunteers would be advantageous.

pale yellow image with faded tree in bloom on right side with text that reads: The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will rejoice over you with gladness. Zephaniah 3: 17

A Surprise Pill Proposal

Just last night, my cousin’s wife, Nancy, in Virginia called me. ”Got a question for ya’” she said. “How many boxes of pill bottles do you have ready to ship off?””

The question came out of the blue. “Strange you should ask me that. I have thirteen large boxes of pill bottles in my garage right now.” I told her the story of my companion who had helped just two days earlier.

 “What would you think of this? Would you be willing to give a one-time donation to a hospital in Cameroon this time?”

Nancy was a retired nurse who had worked with several international nurses over the course of her career in a busy metropolis hospital in Virginia. She had told me about the Cameroonian nurse months earlier, who—along with her husband—organized shipments of medical supplies and clothing back to their country at various intervals throughout the year—typically, when the container filled up.

Nancy, being the liaison she is, hooked us up. She asked her Central African friend if they could use recycled pill bottles. The nurse said there was one hospital there that would be over the moon with happiness with a shipment of them.

As it turned out, Ron, my cousin, was in my neck of the woods this weekend. He had gone fishing and taken his truck. So, he could carry my thirteen large boxes of pill bottles back to Virginia, and they would give them to the Cameroonian nurse for their container.

The advantage? No shipping fees to get the boxes to Ohio and they were going to the same kind of cause!

God’s Timing

Instinctively, I knew God’s hand had been in that operation, from the plethora of pill bottles to the friend who helped me organize, to the timing of my cousin’s visit to my stomping grounds to the timing of the shipment going to Cameroon.

I couldn’t stop smiling when I thought about that. It touched my heart so deeply that God would use our labor to bless that hospital in Central Africa so far away.

Our Hands, Our Hearts

Since I am legally blind, I am limited in what I can do. But when I feel the smooth, clean pill bottles, I know that God is using my hands to serve others.  He has found a unique way for me to give back. I’ve lived and taught overseas most of my adult life, so my heart travels to other homelands and cultures.

Gratitude

I am so grateful. God delights in giving us moments of surprise. Some people call them God winks. When everything comes together so perfectly, I know God is behind it. His timing is flawless.

But going back to swallowing the pill, this is one easy pill to swallow. No choking, gagging or getting stuck in my throat. Surprises like this are kind of like gummy vitamins. You want to chew on it and savor the flavor.

© Amy L. Bovaird. Blog Post for March 18, 2025. All Rights Reserved