September 5, 2005

The Whole Story of the Bounce Castle Miracle

In my last update I told you how the supplier of these bounce castles donated 10 of them to Hugs. This is truly a wonderful story. Because of how it has turned out, I know that I have to now share the WHOLE story with you.

Back in May, I called the supplier located in Toronto to see if we could buy a few of the bounce castles wholesale directly from them rather than through Wal-Mart like we had bought the first one. They gave me the first name of the woman whom they said I needed to speak with. I left messages for her but no one returned my calls. After several days, I called and was finally able to talk with a man there but he told me that there was no way possible since they have a 300-unit minimum that I would need to order. Well, I was really discouraged but kept feeling prompted to follow through with trying to get these castles. So, I called a friend in New Jersey who was on her way here to visit for a while to see if she would be willing to bring two castles with her when she came if we bought them and paid for the shipping. She agreed and I immediately ordered 2 of them from Wal-Mart to be delivered to her address. But because the time was so short, there was no guarantee that they would arrive before she left. I was literally counting not the days but the hours! Then amazingly, suddenly I received a call from the woman in Canada that I had been trying to contact at the supplier. She told me to email her about our organization. I did so right away. I told her EVERYTHING in a long email all about me (African-American and Evangelical Christian) and what we do at Hugs. I always like to let my contacts know up front who I am so if they have any problems with ANY aspect, we can both save time. I also told her that I had just ordered two castles from Wal-Mart to be delivered to a friend who would be coming soon to Israel. I was amazed when she emailed back saying that she appreciated what I was doing and that she would see what she could do to help us. She also suggested that we cancel the Wal-Mart order. Then I was in a dilemma...should I cancel it on the hope that she would be able to 'do something." But if she couldn't that would mean that we would have missed our opportunity for my friend to bring them at a reduced rate as well as possibly avoiding customs fees. Even though British Air was charging us $150 to ship each one, it was still cheaper than using UPS or FedEx. I called Karen and we discussed what to do. In the end, we decided to take a chance and trust that the supplier would come through for us. And boy, did she ever! I screamed when I received her email a couple of days later saying that they wanted to DONATE 2 of them!! I was even more in awe of the LORD when she told me that she was a former ISRAELI and how much she appreciated what we were doing for the children here!

Then the process began in how to get them here the cheapest way. We tried France and Hong Kong because they have the same electrical current that Israel has, so we would not need to buy transformers which are expensive. But the cost for shipping was absolutely outrageous. In the meantime, I received another email from the supplier offering to send 10 of them. Again, we were shouting PRAISES! By this time we had decided that it was better to ship them from Toronto even though we would now have to buy the transformers. But the biggest surprise came about two weeks ago when the supplier suddenly offered to send 20 of them!!! YES! That's right….20. I tried contacting Continental Airlines about reduced rates but didn't get a response from them. In the end the supplier's warehouse arranged shipping through a freight forwarder there in Canada who gave us an excellent price. We thought it was going to be by sea but as it turned out it was by air, Canada Air. The price to send all 20 boxes weighing 52 pounds each for a total weight of 1040 pounds was 1359 Canadian Dollars. Indeed, the LORD does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. In this instance, He arranged for us to get 10 times as many castles as what we had wanted for less than twice the money we would have paid!

All of last week was centered primarily around getting through customs and getting them delivered. We had been given a quote of $550 by the shipper to serve as our agents to clear customs and to deliver them to my door here in Jerusalem. I figured that it might take me all of 1 day to complete everything if I did it myself but it would be worth it to save that $550. Well, things were not that simple. After 2 whole days at the airport outside of Tel Aviv and another full day running around over Jerusalem, by Wednesday evening, I finally had all 20 bounce castles stacked on my balcony!!! It would take a whole book just to tell the story of all that went into clearing customs! A major scare occurred earlier. After picking up the bill of laden and invoice from the airline, I stopped in to say hello to a man who had been very helpful to me once before I needed to clear something in customs. He is the shipping agent representing a large US company here in Israel and handles all of their shipments. I told him about the 20 bounces and he asked to see the paper work from the airline. He told me that the customs fees were going to be a lot because of the way they calculate it including in the calculations also what you pay for the shipping costs. He showed me where the airline listed the shipping cost at over $4,000. That was definitely a point of major concern especially since Karen (our treasurer) had agreed to charge the shipping on her credit card until we could raise the funds to cover it. When we agreed to do it, we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the LORD was telling us to take one more step of FAITH and that He would not fail us.

I told my friend that I had emails proving that the shipper and I had agreed on a price of $1359 CAD. He told me to go back to the airline and try to get them to change it. I did so very quickly. The woman told me that by law all the airlines use a standard rate unless special arrangements have been made otherwise. So when they filled out the form they simply listed the standard rate. But when she checked the computer to see the instructions from the shipper she saw that we had been given a special rate...approximately 1/4 the normal rate so they made the adjustments on the paperwork. I was so thankful that the agent caught that mistake since it would have made the final customs fees even higher. Not only did he catch that mistake, he also helped me fill out all of the forms which were in Hebrew. So even though I couldn't afford to hire a clearing agent, the LORD still provided me with someone who was very helpful. When it came time to calculate the actual customs fees in another department, the LORD again gave me divine favor with the people there in that department also. In the end, we were accessed a customs fee of 3024 shekels (about $690) for the shipment entire shipment.

By this time, the end of the day had come. Plus I needed to spend several hundred more shekels in incidental charges. I was exhausted, but I thought at least I was able to complete everything that day. But that was just wishful thinking.

Just when I thought I was finished, the manager told me they couldn't release the shipment until I gave them a letter from the Safety and Standards Ministry saying the item was safe for children because it had electrical parts. That's when the REAL trials began. That meant another day on the phone and sending faxes. I had to write them a letter and in it I let it be known that this item was carried by major retailers all across the US including Wal-Mart. Soon, I received a reply that they gave their approval but first I had to fill out their special form. I had them to fax it and quite literally just grabbed someone off the street to help me fill it out because it was in Hebrew (my translator was away at a Christian youth retreat that week). Finally, I got most of it filled out and faxed it back to them. After about 30 minutes I called them to make sure they received it and how soon could they fax the approval. It was only then that they told me that I would need to have a lawyer to also sign it!!! It was almost closing time and this woman, the one who needed to sign it, told me that she would not be in the office the following day and therefore not available to sign it. BUT I HAD TO HAVE THIS LETTER so that I wouldn't be charged an extra day of storage at the airport. After much persistence I got her to agree to prepare everything before she left. She then arranged for her assistant to take care of the final work the following day. I asked my friend at the copy center if he knew of a lawyer who was near. He said yes and went to look for his number. Then he asked me how I knew this lawyer. I told him that I didn't. He said but you asked for him by name. As it turns out the lawyer's name is "Nir" (pronounced "near"). That provided some much needed comic relief. I called this lawyer and sure enough he was within walking distance. He asked a few questions about the work and then completed the form. He even faxed it from his office for me. When he was finished I asked him how much he charged and he said "It's my contribution to the organization." Talk about a blessing!!!

By now we're into the third day but I'm feeling good because this was the last hurdle. Or so I thought. I had been given the name of a man to deliver the boxes to my place here in Jerusalem on Monday. We went over all the details and he gave me an unbelievable low quote of 350 shekels and that I would only need to call him one hour before I needed him. However, I didn't know at the time that we would go over into Wednesday before I had the final clearance. Wednesday morning when I called to tell him that the shipment was finally being released and that he could meet me at the airport, he told me that he had traveled to Eilat that morning and was on vacation!
I had no choice but to head to the airport and try to negotiate with the many truckers there. One driver gave me a quote of 700 shekels and when I refused, he insisted on following me around to discourage any other driver from giving a lower quote. Eventually, after many negotiations, I was referred to another man who charged 500 shekels (about $113). That was more than the first guy but still much better than the other quotes I was getting. So, we saved quite a bit of money from the $550 USD that the shipper wanted to charge for them to do the leg work at customs and to deliver to my door.

Another good thing is that I persuaded them not to charge me for the extra two days of storage...which they had already included. Now, we have begun placing them from one end of Israel to the other where there have been multiple attacks…Jerusalem neighborhoods (Gilo, Kiryat Menachem Talpiot, Pisgat Ze’ev); Karne Shomron; Haifa, Netanya; Givon HaChadasha; Kiryat Arba; Hadera; Kedumim, the former Gush Katif communities that have been relocated, and in other areas yet to come.

To God be the Glory for GREAT things HE is doing! Truly His Hand is at the Helm of Hugs.