PRESS RELEASE / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
BELIZE MISSION … Randy Box (right) told Archbold Rotarians about a trip he took with Rotary District 6600’s Medical Equipment and Supplies Abroad (MESA) program earlier this year to deliver educational supplies, including computers and software to more than 30 schools in Belize as well as research medical needs in the nearby hospitals for a shipment that will arrive there in February 2026. The program was arranged by Archbold Rotarian and physician Keith Lehman (left).
PRESS RELEASE – Earlier this year in March, Randy Box with the Waterville Rotary Club was part of a mission to Belize that delivered educational supplies, including computers with educational software, books and other school supplies to more than 30 schools in the country’s interior.
He recently told Archbold Rotarians about that mission as well as how he helped research the needs of hospitals in that area for a shipment of medical supplies that will be sent from Rotary District 6600’s Medical Equipment and Supplies Abroad program next month, arriving in Belize several months later.
That shipment will also include educational supplies for more schools. He explained that the school supplies that the team set-up in the classrooms in March was a Rotary-affiliated program called Resource Centers International (RCI).
Since its inception, RCI has placed donated computers loaded with educational software in more than 300 classrooms in Belize.
Belize, a coastal country in northeastern Central America, borders Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the west. Previously known as the British West Indies, Belize gained its independence in 1981.
Box reported that when MESA teams visit hospitals in less affluent countries asking what they need ultrasound machines are always near the top of the list. Unfortunately, MESA cannot get donated, used ultrasound machines.
However, he showed Rotarians a hand-held ultrasound device that can be paired with a laptop or smart phone to get patient images in remote areas that otherwise have no means for sophisticated imagery locally. He said the devices cost about $4,000 and MESA is now able to send hospitals one of those devices.
For many years, Box has participated in MESA’s largest fund-raiser – an annual bike ride across part of Rotary District 6600. For several years now, Archbold Rotarian, physician and biker Keith Lehman, who arranged the program, has also participated in the ride.