Salvatorian Brother Regis Fust could appropriately be called the "Missionary to the Missions". He is the director of the Salvatorian Mission Warehouse, a distribution center through which donated medicine, nonperishable food, clothing and hospital supplies are collected and sent to missions that assist the poor of the Third World.
   The inspiration for this vital support link for foreign missionaries is a simple Gospel parable.
    "'As often as you do this to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me. I was hungry and you gave me to eat, thirsty and you gave me to drink, naked and you clothed me,"' said Brother Fust, quoting from the 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel. "I begin all my mission talks that way."
   The 68-year-old Religious founded the warehouse 28 years ago and has managed it ever since, but his experience in providing for missionaries' needs goes back much further than that, he explained.
   "I joined the Salvatorians right out of high school," Brother Fust told Our Sunday Visitor. "The order was involved in mission work, primarily in Tanzania. We would get letters from the missionaries requesting one item or another. Through various contacts, I would  locate what they needed and send small shipments overseas."
   In 1973, the Salvatorians were given a grant to build a 25,000-square-foot warehouse, and Brother Fust was then able to launch a full-scale international operation. This year alone, he pointed out, the warehouse — located in New Holstein, Wis., a town of 3,500 residents located 70 miles north of Milwaukee — will ship 10.5 million pounds of supplies to 20 countries at a cost of $1.2 million.
   What is most in demand in mission lands? Items like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes and other articles of personal care and hygiene. "Those are things everybody needs, whether you have a school, seminary, convent or dispensary," said Brother Fust.
   Besides drought and malnutrition, lack of access to sanitary supplies is the most common cause of death in underdeveloped nations. War, AIDS, hurricanes, leprosy and a host of other ills are also common. "Unlike some relief agencies that pull out as soon as the TV crews are gone, our shipments continue to leave the warehouse — sometimes for months, even years afterward," he said.

A corporate effort
In 1997, Brother Fust received the Good Samaritan of the Year award from the National Catholic Development Conference, an honor he shares with the late Mother Teresa. But he makes it clear that this work is a large-scale team effort. Corporations and donors provide the supplies and monetary support, while a band of retired Religious and 300 volunteers keep the operation running smoothly.
   Donating to Mission Warehouse provides a big tax write-off to corporations, said Brother Fust, and it's far cheaper than landfill. He rattled off names of corporate donors like Abbott Laboratories, Hershey's Chocolates, Johnson & Johnson, Land's End and Procter & Gamble, all of which give thousands and thousands of dollars worth of items.
   The corporate donations are in perfectly good condition, too. Mission Warehouse receives shipments of quality goods because of overstocking, bad marketing, failed holiday promotions, closed storage facilities, product recalls and a multitude of reasons.
   To illustrate, Brother Fust held up a pen inscribed with a company logo.
   "Don't recognize the name?" he asked. "That's because the two companies never merged."
   He then tossed onto a table a stack of cut material from pants.
   "Here's what's left over after pants are hemmed," he explained. "Sewing classes in the missions will make them into patchwork quilts and shorts."
   Always on the lookout for more supplies, Brother Fust said he has found that personal referrals are the "best way to get to the right people."
   Brother Fust employs a simple strategy when it comes to monetary donations of any kind: "I beg." His donor base includes private individuals, foundations, wills and parish groups.
   "One woman sends me two $1 bills every week," he said with a smile.
"I don't send out appeal letters; I rely on our twice-yearly newsletter and word-of-mouth."
   Word-of-mouth is no less important when it comes to volunteers. Given that the average age of Mission Warehouse volunteers is 73, some have worked at the warehouse since its founding. One woman comes every day; some aren't Catholics. Many retired after careers in factories or on farms.
   "We enjoy socializing, and the work keeps us busy," volunteer Arlene Robl told Our Sunday Visitor. "It's so satisfying to do something for someone who has less. We have so much; we live in a land of plenty. It's hard to fathom the poverty."
   Bishop Paul Schmitz, O.F.M. Cap., heads the Diocese of Bluefields, Nicaragua, which has missions that have received goods from Mission Warehouse. "In a very real way, [the volunteers] are also missionaries helping to spread the Word of the Lord by what they are doing," he said. "The people here in the missions truly feel and appreciate their gesture of solidarity. They feel that they have not been abandoned."

Lives of solidarity
A missionary in Tanzania for more than 12 years who was voluntarily reassigned to the warehouse in 1973, Salvatorian Sister Dora Zapf, 65, is thankful for the groups of volunteers she coordinates. In appreciation, she and the other Religious organize a Volunteer Day every August.
   "We move everything out and scrub the floors, then have Mass and a potluck dinner," she said.
   She and Brother Fust enjoy a collaborative working relationship, she pointed out. They call each other "Boss", and Brother Fust  consults with her before making any major decisions.
   Community life is very important to the other Salvatorians who work at the warehouse, including among them Lay Salvatorians David and Martha Worral and Don Ertl. They and dozens of other volunteers all put in a full day at the warehouse.  
   Their lifestyle reflects a simplicity and solidarity with the poor whom they ultimately serve. No one draws a salary. Their clothes are overstocks from the warehouse, and most of the food comes from area food banks. Housing is provided by the order.
   "We have no paid employees. Less than 0.5 percent of the budget is spent on administration," Brother Fust noted with pride.
   But without the missions, there wouldn't be a Mission Warehouse.
   "In the early years, we visited many of the missionaries to help us visualize the need," he said. "Now, communication is mostly by telephone, although some — including bishops and cardinals — journey to the warehouse itself, needs list in hand."
   The packing lists themselves provide fascinating and illuminative reading: "88 cases of paper towels" (destined for Lithuania); "160 cases of calcium tablets, total 460,800, exp. 3/01" (Peru); "14 cases of sandals" (Guinea-Bissau); "410 100-lb. bags of rice" (Tanzania); "3 cases of Band-Aids and Q-tips" (Guatemala); "56 cases of tomato paste" (Bolivia); "13 cases of anti-fungal foot cream" (Papua New Guinea); "12 cases of butterfly IV sets" (Uganda); "16 cases of deodorant" (Chile).
 
'A daily miracle'
But it's not just a matter of loading a few boxes onto a truck, transferring it to rail and eventually moving it to port. Shipping costs are based on volume, not weight, so volunteers unpack and repack supplies in boxes and barrels to save space. Then they're loaded into 20- or 40-foot containers with clothing, sheets and blankets stuffed into the cracks.
   Sometimes the container itself is included in the donation. One missionary priest used three of the containers to fashion a makeshift home for himself; others are turned into clinics and dispensaries.
   Life for the warehouse workers is not without its challenges. "It's a lot of running on faith," Brother Fust said. Sister Zapf called it "a daily miracle."
   Recently, several countries rescinded duty-free exemptions on imports. The missionaries can't afford to pay the high tariffs, so the warehouse is forced to stop sending supplies to those countries until the decisions are reversed.
   Brother Fust also worries about the future of the operation, as new Salvatorian vocations are relatively few.
   But, whether they are Franciscans, Holy Ghost Fathers, Salvatorians or Medical Missionaries of Mary ("I call them '3M'", Brother Fust deadpanned), the foreign missionaries served by the warehouse and their letters of gratitude they send in return are a testament to the indispensable service Mission Warehouse provides: that of feeding and caring for bodies in order to nourish souls.