The diving equipment collection has started!

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On Monday evening at 9 PM, I launched the Diving Equipment Collection campaign by posting from my personal Facebook account. After that, I planned on sharing the message in diving-related Facebook sales groups and with my own club Kupla ry. My thought was that I would probably get a few responses during the week, and at the same time, we could try to spread the word using Zero Line’s various social media channels and by encouraging friends to share with their own diving clubs and buddies, etc.

That’s not quite how it went. Within a minute of posting the "sales ad" in the Facebook group called Sukelluskirppis, I received my first private message. The group admin immediately responded to my post and offered his own equipment for use by the Ukrainians. While I was messaging with him, two other divers had already contacted me with similar offers. And thus, the situation escalated! By the end of the first evening, I had received about ten messages via email and Facebook, and I couldn’t even respond to all of them before I had to go to bed.

In the morning, I replied to as many messages as I could, and then I went to pick up the first pieces of equipment from Espoo. We received two regulators and two buoyancy compensators, along with a bunch of knives, lights, etc.

The first pieces of equipment received from Espoo

I quickly realized that to keep this project under control, I needed to do things systematically. So, I started creating a Google Sheets document where I recorded all the donated items in one tab—their types, donors, maintenance needs, as well as weight and estimated value. The last two were to make it easier to fill out customs documents for Poland and Ukraine, as they require that information.

In another tab, I recorded all the contacts: who donated, from which part of Finland, how they contacted me, what items were promised, whether transportation was agreed upon, and if so, when it would happen. This was to ensure nothing and no one would fall through the cracks.

All the while, I was responding to new messages, and in the afternoon, the first donor came by in person to bring wetsuits, regulators, and fins, etc.

The second set of equipment arrives.

By this time, things were already looking pretty good, and I started going through my own storage. I found quite a few items I no longer use and decided to donate a gear bag, a couple of buoyancy compensators, a couple of fins, and a mask.

All in all, an excellent first day!

The second day continued pretty much the same with lots of new contacts and three donations submitted. As I write this, it is 7 PM, and the list of willing donors now holds 30 names, six of whom have already delivered. We have also gained a number of corporate partners, but I will write more about that in another post.