Help Continues...

I read somewhere that humanitarian aid often falls short of the help that is actually needed. Most help for about 5-6 months and then it just falls off. For us, it’s only been just over a month and I can see the difference already. Most Poles are eager to help, but we all know we can’t live in a state of adrenalin rush. You just can’t. Somehow your body has to learn to cope. Most people have jobs they have to fill and try to fit in volunteering in around it.

This past week we did several things - though it was a different pace than the week before. Our company (Tim and Luda) left on Tuesday morning, so we spent Monday trying to make sure they had the things they needed to take back to the states with them from Poland.

I know you are going to think it is funny - but they certainly didn’t take the typical things. Luda wanted cocoa power as she thought ours was very good. Her husband found some decoy crows in a store where we were getting things for their family in Ukraine. They also did get some typical things - like chocolate bars. I also offered her a piece of my Polish folk fabric as she said she wanted to add it to a couple of kitchen towels. They also got some pretty napkins.

My husband here is putting batteries in the flashlights I bought. When we donate flashlights, they have the batteries in them.

On the Monday before Luda and Tim left, I took both Luda and Lena and we took all the underwear I had bought and not yet delivered and took it to the white tent in Otwock. I also got a good glimpse of how their tent with clothes for donation looked. At this location, they also take donations of food and refugees can come and get the food they can use in the afternoons. IOW, there are two white tents. One has food and diapers in it and one has used clothing. The picture on the far right is looking through one of the less opaque openings. I was back the next day and the tables were piled even higher.

Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to these folks.

So Tuesday morning they left.

I about dropped. I was tired. When all the kids were home, I was used to having a lot of people here and a lot of activity and noise and things going on. But I have gotten used to a more quiet life, if I can use that word.

I also knew that my husband said he wasn’t going to go back to the border of Ukraine yet as he needed some time to recover.

He wrenched his back on Monday when they were packing up the first load to go to Ukraine and by the end of the week, his back no longer hurt, but he said his hip did. He was hoping it would just go away. So far it hasn’t. It has made it very uncomfortable for him to do much of anything for long periods of time. Sitting is uncomfortable. Standing is. Even lying down.

I decided it was a good week to focus on our own town of Otwock - to get them some supplies.

So what did I end up doing. Lena, from Ukraine is here helping us, so she and I went shopping several times. We took things back to the white tent. The first time (Tues afternoon) I pulled in there about 4 pm and they said, “Oh good, because we had just run out of everything.”

Now that motivates me.

I also had to deal with a bunch of boxes and packages of things I ordered.

Here are some photos of those activities -

Wed - taking food in to the white tent. Also dealing with more packages I got in. I picked up another bolt of batting as well. I was hoping to be able to get some sandwiching done.

Wednesday afternoon as I looked my piles of packages (shown above), I was sitting there exhausted and my husband called. I told him I was just thinking about dealing with opening all these boxes - and bringing them in from both the porch and the tent - and he told me that he was bringing help. So he did. I used the young people to bring in all the boxes, open them and sort out what was what. Below are photos of them helping.

While I was so grateful for all the help, my inner person was just crying out to be alone. So, Thursday morning, Mike and I went to a funeral. Then I had to deal with more boxes that arrived.

I had gotten a notice that I had a box from overseas in the post office (it was the hats that I shared in Sat’s blog post), so please come and get it. So we went. While there, the driver of the post office truck with boxes recognized us, and offloaded several packages that were supposed to come to our house and put them right in our vehicle.

Mike had been thinking about buying a trailer - one that would hold the weight of the food that he had been wanting to carry - so on Thurs. afternoon he went to check out one. I stayed home. Yeah! Finally. I would have time to spend in my own way - doing what “I” wanted to do. Right. Not yet.

First I had to deal with packages.

I got to open the hats - how cool were they?

Oh no! One package was full of cat food. I didn’t order cat food.

I sat down and wrote the people who sent it to me and figured out what I needed to do. I had to return it. OK. I could do that. I packaged it back up and got it ready to take to that paczkomat, following instructions as given.

I got that ready to go.

I was sitting at my machine, beginning to work on pillowcases where we had left off before and got a call from Pawel, my contact at the fire station saying they had gotten a really nice thank you for us on nice paper, etc. Could I come and get it?

Sure thing. So, I pushed back from machine - not having done much more than turn it on and get ready to sew, and got in my car, took that package to the paczkomat that I had prepared for return, and went to get our formal thank you for the medical bags.

So naturally I stayed there, at this person’s office for some time, talking with him. Then I stopped by the church and dropped off some stuff in the garage (from those packages in my living room), where they await a transport, and took a few things to the white tent, ready for the next day’s shopping. Here is when these young people posed for me.

I finally got home and was able to relax. My husband arrived a bit later…with trailer! He bought it almost new from a big farm about 2 hours from here.

 

I had pushed shopping from Thursday to Friday morning with Lena because of a funeral on Thurs. morning. I also had gone to bed with a stabbing sore throat. Thankfully by the time I woke up, it was somewhat better.

When I woke up Friday to snow, I thought, “Oh no, I HATE driving in the snow, but if I don’t I will just have to do it another time, so just go do it now, Becky.”

So I did.

Lena and I went to three stores and piled up the stuff - each of us filling a cart at the three places. We met at the first place at 8:30 am.

We then took it all to the white tent. It was not yet 11 am. Here are two more volunteers who helped unload.

By this time, I really wasn’t feeling all that well. I really just wanted to stay home - with no one.

No one.

Well, okay - my husband could be there (but he was gone on a trip helping our church company at another wholesale place.) I wanted no company, no comforters, no talking on the phone, etc. My voice was getting worse.

I arrived home. I sat down at the table to check my phone. Relax a bit. “Now I can stay home, right? Please, Lord?”

It was about 11:15 am. I checked my messages.

At 10:40 am I had gotten a message which I hadn’t seen (loosely translated)

Becky, I have some shirts for you - come to the Jozefow Station to get them this morning. - Elzbieta

So I went. At that point I had those blue and yellow hats. I had given away one on the day before to Lena for her 16 year old daughter. I decided that with all the snow, it was a great day to give the rest away. I did.

I did pick up a bag of shirts. Then I went home. I had told Lena I wasn’t shopping again til next week and that I just needed to spend some time at home. Resting.

I told my husband once he got back from his helping the young ladies that we needed to make an agreement (He was and is still in a lot of discomfort due to his hip/leg - my unofficial “google diagnosis” is a herniated disc causing a pinched nerve. - He needs to go to a doctor.). I told him, pled with him, asked him to “If anyone else calls for the rest of the day, please, I can’t handle it - I’ve got to be here, alone, resting and quiet and not expecting company or expecting anyone to come over nor for me to go anywhere.” (I had just been listening to part of a YT video about setting boundaries - until I got interrupted and still haven’t finished it.)

So we did. The rest of Friday we stayed home. My husband needed to spend some time preparing for Sunday - sermons don’t just fall from the sky! I needed quiet and peace in order to do some organizing, sewing, and just resting.

I knew it would happen. I had been telling my husband that I just couldn’t keep up the pace - the pressure - the need to keep everyone busy. I just couldn’t.

My body said I couldn’t either. By Friday I felt pretty bad. I’m writing this on Sunday and I didn’t go to church this morning, instead, staying home and sleeping part of the morning. I’m treating myself to medications, and I believe I’m on the way back - but it’s not been too nice. I actually haven’t been sick with even a cold since August/Sept 2020 when I had COVID and when I had my two COVID shots in the summer of ‘21 - both times having reactions to them which gave me a fever for about a day and a half.

Saturday I just sort of did nothing. I vegged. I tried to do things. I did laundry, picked up here and there, sorted some blankets by color as I prepare for making up more bags with charity quilts and I took some photos.

In the afternoon I decided to go ahead and use up that roll of batting “to the end”, so I sandwiched and sandwiched. (I didn’t mention that I had sandwiched about 6 charity quilts on Wed. afternoon.) I had thought last year I wouldn’t be doing it this way during 2022, but my residency permit has not come through yet, and so no long arm yet.

There are 14 here and one upstairs. I also gave Ewa a few earlier in the week from the bolt of batting. I think I gave her 6, though I can’t remember for sure at this writing.

So there you are. The week was chaotic - though not nearly as wild as the week before. I finally am beginning to feel a little bit less stressed. Monday morning - the day you are reading this, I hope to get to the church and put a lot more things into the garage for Ukraine and get them out of the house.

The next round starts the day you read this. But I’ll share that with you at another time.

If you want to help - you can donate here. The money goes to helping provide food and other things people need in Ukraine and refugees who are local. We are calling it simply “Ukraine relief”. Thanks so much!

This past week I focused on local - but next week (the week are reading this) - we’ll be sending things into Ukraine again.

Ukraine Relief

So far we have taken in 122K and I have spent about half of that on all these goods and relief items. (No, the trailer is our own personal purchase - unrelated to this money. My husband had been wanting a bigger trailer for Noble Packages and other furniture moving for a couple of years now.)

Whew!

Are you still here?

If so, thanks so much for coming along on this journey with me!

Becky Petersen8 Comments