Olga Otte, left, and Ruby Niccum of Purdue Extension Jackson County homemakers stand in front of collected pill bottles that their organization collects for Matthew 25: Ministries in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In a number of Third World countries, health clinics dispense medications into their patients’ hands, pockets or pieces of paper because there are no containers available.

To help fill that need, members of Jackson County Extension Homemaker clubs and St. Paul Lutheran Church Borchers are joining efforts.

“Our Jackson County Purdue Extension homemakers are doing community service projects by collecting used pill bottles, which will be sent to developing countries to dispense medications,” said Molly Marshall, a Purdue Extension Jackson County educator.

Prescription and over-the-counter bottles are being accepted with or without labels.

“Clean, amber-colored pill bottles are given to hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities in need of medical supplies,” Marshall said. “Bottles with labels on them or sticky residue remaining are recycled and used to make containers for use in the Matthew 25: Ministries food processing center.”

She said the pill bottles collected in Jackson County will be taken to Matthew 25: Ministries in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Borchers ministries.

Pastor Stephen Wood said he took the most recent batch of pill containers to Cincinnati.

“We do not have a schedule for taking them, so it is based upon when there is a large enough collection of the bottles or if someone is heading that way,” he said. “We have been collecting the pill bottles for about three years.”

Last week at the extension office in Brownstown, council meetings were held for the officers and presidents of the home extension clubs.

“Several bags of bottles had already been collected at the extension office,” Olga Otte, president of the Kum Join Us club, said. “They put them in the conference room. Then when I get there, I take them back to church. Plus, when the presidents came to the council meeting, they brought what they had collected, too.”

Otte said clinics might receive medicine in bigger batches, so they try to parcel them out to their patients, but sometimes, they don’t have anything to put them in.

“This is an ongoing project, and it has been part of the county project for at least two years, and we’ve had it longer than that at (St. Paul) church,” she said. “I think it’s great because if the containers are clean, they can just go ahead and use those as a regular container to put the medicines in.”

Otte said a lot of times when dealing with Third World countries, they don’t have the best situation for storing things.

“They can make plastic containers or whatever they need by using the donated bottles,” she said. “Even Ukraine right now, they’re having to leave their homes if they can get out. They might need containers there, too. We just don’t know what the situation is.”

Otte said Lutheran World Relief is part of their church ministry, too, and they make blankets, school kits and other things that can be sent to the places that need it, basically at a moment’s notice.

“So our church, along with the extension homemakers, we are trying to fill a need, and we do some food pantries, too,” she said. “We are about 10 miles outside of Seymour, and that’s one reason I thought it’d be better if people would bring the bottles to the extension office instead of trying to get them to the church.”

Otte said when Wood took the bottles to Matthew 25: Ministries last time, the back of the van was almost full.

“There were several huge trash bags full, and they also collect money for the ministry because you need money to melt things down and transport them where they need to go,” she said. “The bags are pretty light because the bottles are empty.”

Homemaker extension clubs in Jackson County are Friends and Neighbors, Kum Join Us, Country Friends, Country Lace, Crothersville, Freetown Friends, Kids N’ Kettles, Pine Ridge, Sauers and Wegan Wide Awake.

The clubs have two all-club county meetings each year, Achievement Night in May and Fall Fling in November, where members bring items they’ve collected for the local food pantries.

To learn more about Matthew 25: Ministries, visit m25m.org. The ministry provides food, clean water, clothing, affordable shelter, medical care and humanitarian supplies to people in need.

To donate pill bottles, drop them off at the extension office, 111 S. Main St., Brownstown.

Nobody covers Seymour, Indiana and the surrounding areas like The Tribune.

Main Switchboard: (812) 522-4871 Toll Free: (800) 800-8212