I first connected with Global Links years ago since I was so impressed with their mission and vision about improving people's lives as well as helping with a huge environmental problem. The dedication of GL staff is impressive and the consistency of their work is clearly shown in the amount of shipments they make. The partnerships they cultivate in vulnerable communities in Latin American are long-lasting and beneficial for all - both abroad and here in the United States.
I've had the privilege of volunteering for this wonderful organization over the past few years. Always impressed by how well run the volunteer events are -a lot is accomplished in a short period of time. Very satisfying to know I've contributed to a mission that combines providing needed medical supplies with environmental responsibility.
Of course GlobalLinks fundamental mission is the epitome of a green nonprofit. I'm especially impressed with the fact that they're determined to work SMART and green. GL uses customized computer databases to streamline all of their functions from warehousing to organizing their shipments to donor tracking and email blasts. They understand the importance of not just doing right, but doing it efficiently.
Global Links is a wonderful example of community working together in a number of ways to benefit our Pittsburgh community and our global community. It is a green initiative, contributing to the earth's well being by keeping needed medical supplies out of landfills, helping people overseas who don't have access to supplies that we take for granted, helping other local non-profits, and managing UPMC's surplus furniture to help sustain their mission. I recently toured and was amazed by the committment, organization, attention to detail and dignity and respect given to those who receive the supplies. Everything is sent over in top shape, cleaned, repaired, labeled and ready to use.
I volunteered for over 5 years in my retirement (until my own health issues prevented be from doing so), and continue to support financially. The mission of Global Links, the staff, and the fellow volunteers are all passionate about capturing all medical materials that do not need to be disposed of- their enthusiasm is contagious. To be able to work with such a group was a privilege.
Global Links is an amazing organization. There are about $9 billion worth of medical equipment and supplies thrown into landfills in the U.S. yearly. Global Links collects, cleans, repackages and ships these otherwise discarded items to developing nations where people are literally dying because of a lack of these needed supplies. The staff is friendly, dedicated to their mission, and make volunteering there a learning, fun experience.
5 stars is hardly enough to commend the work done by Global Links. I've had the pleasure of interning there over the past 4 months with the Country Programs officers and it's been such a rewarding experience. I've participated in many different ways, including: exploring new sources of funding, seeking donations of supplies and equipment, and translating documents. Everyone at Global Links is wholeheartedly committed to the mission and the positivity is infectious. It's truly a visionary concept and I'm very proud and grateful to have had to opportunity to contribute.
How can anyone be against what these folk do? They collect surplus medical supplies from hospitals in the United States and send them to clinics and hospitals in nine Latin American countries. I volunteer at Global Links and can only wish that there were 50 more organizations doing the same work.
This is an amazing organization that does a huge amount of great work with a very small amount of resources. They effectively utilize thousands of hours of volunteer time to collect pack and ship retreivable medical equipment and supplies to developing countries. Their tireless quest prevents valuable, useable materials from going into landfills and directs them instead to exactly where they are desparately needed.Their work save sthe environment and saves lives. In the last few years that I have been involved I have seen them perform as a highly funtional team and a learning organization.
When I was a nursing student, I helped Global Links to check blood pressure units and other basic equipment for donation to primary care clinics overseas. What impressed me most was the care that went into the donated shipments. Medical supplies were sorted and neated packed. Equipment was checked to make sure it worked correctly and was complete. Nothing was sent that was not needed. It is amazing when I think that all of these things which would have ended up in a landfill are now helping doctors and nurses to provide care to their patients and save lives. The organization and dedicated staff are an inspiration to me. If you want to volunteer to make a difference in the world, your time will not be wasted here.
I take a group of ESL students here to volunteer every year. They come from countries far and wide and are always, always, always impressed with the experience: the environment and staff at Global Links are very welcoming, the mission is superior, the work is meaningful, and the exposure our students get from this experience helps shape their perceptions about our country and its citizens' humanitarian efforts.
Global links has an incredible dual mission of going green and building healthcare capacity and access in the developing world. Global links has a nealry 20 year track record of recycling medical supplies and equipment from US hospitals and matching and donating these to the needs of the healthcare systems in some of poorest countries in the world. Truly a double bang!
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Global links has been a trend setter in the green movement for nearly 20 years. Recycling surplus medical equipment and supplies, much of which would wind up in the waste stream, and donating these to healthcare organizations in the developing world with documented need is an incredible dual mission of "greening" and "human service." This double bang makes global links a very effective and wothwhile charity especially when you look at the volume of materials removed from the waste stream and impact that their donations have had on building capacity and increasing access to healthcare services in some of the world's poorest countries.
I love volunteering at Global Links- every time I have so much fun and really feel the impact of my efforts!
I have been associated with this organizations for many years and have continually appreciated their creative and valuable approach to the "repurposing" of surplus medical supplies. As a healthcare professional myself, I have often been appalled- witnessing the waste of expensive and still useful medical supplies and equipment. Finally someone ( Global Links) came along and created a way to redirect these items for the good of less advantaged people. Global Links functions on a very tight budget, with most of the work being done by volunteers. When people make a donation to them they can be assured that almost 100% of it is being used directly by those who need it the most. Global Links is truely dedicated to its mission.
I have provided pro bono services to Global Links for many years. It is an amazing not-for-profit organization, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Very low administrative overhead and very high impact. So much thought and care goes into every donation to ensure each facility receives exactly what it needs and can put to good use. (Well-intended but inappropriate donations can be a huge burden on a recipient -- imagine getting a tractor-trailer load of equipment or materials you can't use!) Global Links has carefully built up partnerships with local hospitals, international governmental organizations, recipient hospitals in developing countries -- all to ensure it can have the highest, most beneficial impact in the countries it serves and make best use of the materials it reuses. Humanitarian, eco-friendly, well-run -- it's a great organization.
Global Links recycles surplus medical supplies and devices that would otherwise be discarded in landfills or incinerated. They send these items to clinics and facilities in developing countries that would otherwise be unable to care for needy people. I have volunteered at Global Links for three years and I am always impressed by the generosity and caring that the people at Global Links display toward the humankind and the environment.
Global Links plays a vital and unique role by doing meaningful work simultaneously on TWO fronts. First, Global Links is improving the environment by significantly reducing the wastestream of healthcare institutions. Second, Global Links is improving the lives of scores of individuals in developing countries through the recycling and reuse of medical equipment and supplies. Changing the environment and changing healthcare are two giant tasks and Global Links makes a positive impact on both with a level of competence and professionalism rarely seen.
I am an administrator in Community Relations at the University of Pittsburgh. One of my responsibilities is to place volunteers from among our 13,000 faculty and staff with local non-profits. Since my experience with Global Links began in 1995, they have consistently supplied well-planned and meaningful voluntary service activities, with a strong educational component, to groups of University staff, faculty and graduate/professional students with near monthly frequency. Global Links is environmental to the extent that they recycle massive amount of medical supplies & equipment that would be otherwise headed for landfills.
Global Links is the most wonderful organization! Here medical equipment goes back into the cycle which would otherwise fill landfills. Global Links also reuses and recycles in every thinkable way during the process of packaging and shipping the items to countries who are in desperate need. What an outstanding contribution to humanity and our environment!
Global Links is a pioneer in its approach to both environmental stewardship and development assistance. Every year, the organization makes a measurable, direct and immediate impact in the lives of thousands of our world's poorest - and it does so using materials that would otherwise be thrown away in U.S. landfills. I have worked with few other organizations that have such a profound sense of their responsibility both at home and abroad and such an enduring commitment to protecting both our planet and the people on it.
Having limited resources ourselves, my wife and I are very careful about the nonprofits to which we make contributions. Global Links has become our number one choice, bar none. GL is able to do so much with so little, and always in a warm, professional and caring manner. Clearly, the administrative overhead is well managed. Instead of the big glossy communications pieces some of the big guys send you, GL relies on simple attractive mailers, e-newsletters and web site. When you lead with heart, you can accomplish big things. That's what GL does.
I want to express what a humble organization global links is. An executive director who starts the coffee pot in the morning. Board meetings at a big table in the office, steps away from medical supplies waiting to be sorted. This is a no-frills, no-fuss organization that focuses on one thing: getting our medical excess to those in need. They do it simply and quickly, but at the same time they do it with great respect for their partners, making sure that each receiving hospital or clinic is getting just what it needs.
I am absolutely impressed with Global Links' ability to be truly resourceful in simultaneously addressing the problem of excess/waste from the hospital/pharmaceutical end and the problem of lack of medical equipment and supplies in the third world due to economic and infrastructural disadvantage. It is not only an ingenious environmentally-friendly organization that recycles what could become waste, but one that also quietly and effectively fights for human rights on a global level in terms of equal access to quality health care.
They do incredible work at Global Links. What better way to recycle than to take medical equipment that was going to be thrown away and send it to countries that can desperately use it.
Global Links is an amazing organization. With a small dedicated staff and well-managed volunteers, they retrieved and sent 34 shipping containers of usable medical equipment to serve the health needs of poor citizens around the world. This highly-focused recycling program is extraordinary. Global Links staff make visits to donating and receiving hospitals, communicate directly with hospital administrators, doctors and surgeons to determine precisely what is needed. This organization represents the best in environmental protection coupled with improved healthcare worldwide. They are terrific!
What I have seen exhibited at Global Links more than other organizations I've volunteered or worked for is a true commitment to reducing waste to an absolute minimum. Whether it is re-purposing and re-directing perfectly good medical supplies to its constituents, or simply performing its own internal day-to-day activities, Global Links keeps a reduced footprint at the forefront of its operational objectives.
Global Links is one of my favorite nonprofits. They excel at three different things: (1) working with local health centers to retrieve appropriate furnishings, supplies, and equipment and divert them from landfills; (2) working volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and educating them on their mission; (3) working closely with overseas health centers to identify their specific needs and capabilities and sending them only what they need and ensuring it will be properly used and maintained.
I am familiar with globalinks for now over 12 years. While I have seen many organizations collecting unused medical material or supplies for developing countries, Globalinks is outstanding by its ability to combine environment friendly processing and matching of donors needs. Many others NGOs collect the equipement, they barely clean it and "dump it"on health facilities in poorer countries. Instead of being destroyed safely in the US, the medicines and material, which in most cases in unsusable or inappropriate, are discarder in hazardous conditions or clogged the corridors of the hospitals and warehouses. GlobaLinks is standing out by its genuine concern for quality, appropriateness of the equipement and its support in terms of spareparts. Reusable surgical supplies instead of being lost sometimes without being used once are benefitting of an extended life. Environment and patients both benefit!
Global Links is the best and most enlightened charity I have ever had the honor of being involved with. It serves a dual function which is incredibly necessary in today's world: (1) it takes perfectly good medical surplus which would otherwise be sent to a landfill, and (2) sends it to 9 Latin American countries where the people desperately need it. In addition, the staff is incredibly dedicated and friendly. I feel that my time and money are put to great use by this organization, 97% of all donations going directly to the charitable mission itself rather than overhead, and I am proud to be a Board member.
I think this is a great organization with two very important goals - reducing waste that is tossed needlessly into landfills and sending much needed medical supplies to underdeveloped countries.
It is a wonderful organization that keeps America's landfills from filling up with still useful medical supplies that are sent and utilized in needy countries.
GlobalLinks does a fantastic job of saving the environment and people's lives by taking excess medical supplies that would end up in a landfill and distributing them to hospitals in need in developing nations. As a volunteer, who sorts and packages the supplies, I know that I am making an incredible difference in the lives of people who have not done anything wrong, but just don't have access to a resource-rich healthcare system. By utilizing volunteers, overhead costs are kept down and a higher percentage of monetary donations may be utilized for programmatic tasks, such as shipping costs. GlobalLinks may be my favorite nonprofit!
