In a 10-by-10 room packed with unopened boxes, Janet Weisberg Haber is trying to stop something she believes happens quietly across St. Louis every day: families throwing away expensive medical supplies while other people desperately need them.

So, she created the Medical Supplies Gemach, a free community resource rooted in the Jewish tradition of a gemach — a volunteer-run lending or charitable aid organization — that collects and redistributes unopened, open-box and non-returnable medical supplies to anyone who needs them.

“Everyone knew of families who, for lack of any viable alternative, had simply thrown these usable and often expensive, items away,” Haber said.

A project rooted in family loss

The idea grew out of her own family’s experience.

After Haber’s mother died in 1999, her father kept unopened medical supplies for years “just in case someone needed them.” When he died in 2018, she realized just how much had accumulated — and how common the situation likely was for other families cleaning out homes after illness, injury or death.

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“It was really more of a process than an exact moment,” Haber said. “I knew I wanted to carry forward my parents’ commitment to tzedakah but was not exactly clear what form that might take.”

Haber, a past president and longtime member of Nusach Hari B’nai Zion, said the project became a way to continue her parents’ commitment to helping others while addressing a need she saw in the community.

She started quietly telling friends and family members about the idea of collecting leftover medical supplies and redistributing them to people who could use them.

“I honestly didn’t know how much supply or demand there would be,” Haber said.

What followed was a steady stream of donations and requests, mostly through word of mouth.

Quiet help for expensive problems

Today, the gemach includes everything from diabetic and wound care supplies to shower chairs, walkers and other specialty medical equipment.

Families donate supplies after illnesses, injuries and deaths. Others come looking for items they suddenly need but often cannot easily afford.

“Similarly, if there is a need, they contact me and come by to collect whatever supplies they need, for free, no questions asked,” Haber said.

Many of the supplies most requested — including bed pads, wound care items and adult diapers — are often not covered by insurance.

“For example, having to pay $1.50 to $2.00 each for adult diapers for a senior with a limited income, or for someone unable to work due to illness or injury, the financial strain in addition to the stress of trying to recover can be burdensome,” Haber said.

“No one should have to face the indignity of not having these basic supplies available to them,” she added.

Turning grief into something useful

For Haber, the project is not only about affordability. It is also about what happens after loss.

Most donations come from family members sorting through the belongings of someone who has recently died. Instead of throwing supplies away, families can pass them along to someone else who may need them immediately.

“Sorting through their loved one’s belongings is so difficult and being able to donate rather than to throw away has proven to be truly comforting for the families,” Haber said.

“It is not uncommon that tears are shed as the supplies are delivered.”

The experience also opened Haber’s eyes to how much medical waste quietly accumulates in homes.

Because many supplies are non-returnable — even when unopened — families are often left with few alternatives besides throwing them away.

“Unfortunately, I think the vast majority of leftover supplies are thrown away,” Haber said.

The moment she knew it mattered

One moment early in the COVID-19 pandemic confirmed for Haber that the gemach was serving a real need.

“At the beginning of COVID, I was able to supply a device that amplifies voices on a landline phone to a woman who had just lost her husband, was living alone and now isolated due to COVID,” Haber said. “This item provided her access to friends and family members during such a difficult time.”

“The opportunity to help in this way was proof for me that I had made the right decision to open the gemach,” she said.

Now, Haber hopes more people learn both that the supplies exist and that they can be donated instead of discarded.

“Unfortunately, though, not enough people know these are available,” she said.

The Medical Supplies Gemach accepts donations and requests through phone or text at 314-541-1317 or by email at [email protected].