Orland - After nearly a half a year of research and gathering donations, the result of all those hours was boxed up and shipped away today.

Folks in Orland gathered to load up items that should arrive at their destination in time for Christmas.

"It's a hundred percent donations," said Joshua Prochaska of Emmaus International. "All of this is either coming from our in house thrift store or direct donations."

About a dozen people from H.O.M.E Cooperative and Emmaus International spent a couple hours loading a shipping container in Orland that will spend the next two to three weeks in transit before arriving in Guatemala.

"Well it's an act of solidarity to strengthen the ties between our two communities," said Prochaska "So we have many refugees who come up here and stay with us and we send people down there and we've always had this strong connection with the people there."

There were boxes, bags and bikes to be put inside and much more according to Prochaska. "Everything under the sun before we started putting it together we contacted them down there and asked them what they were most in need of and tried to collect as much of what they said."

It will take about a week to unload the container, but once it's done they believe these donations from Maine will make an impact in Guatemala said Prochaska. "I think it's going to make a tremendous difference for low income individuals and families down there."

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