Before we go any further, let me share this little fact with you - we are located about 3 hours from the nearest border crossing into Ukraine.

A few days ago now, Tuesday, to be exact, some friends of ours came from the states to help us for two weeks and to get an idea of what the needs are and how to better help Ukrainians. Tim and Luda have lived in various places, and are currently in Wisconsin with their kids while COVID19 has been wreaking havoc with their normal pattern of life which has involved living in places other than the USA. Luda is Ukrainian-American and Tim is a Wisconsin-American (:)), but they have lived in Siberia - Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, central Asia and Wisconsin.

Anyway, so we have them staying in our house now - for a total of two weeks.

Luda, who speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English along with some Turkish, is helping me. Since I mainly focus on what I do in this blog, I won’t actually account for what the men are doing unless it coincides with or supplements what I’m trying to say here. That’s for a different kind of report.

My husband has been more or less put in charge of setting up some shipments to Ukraine - the middle man - so to speak, trying to coordinate drivers and collectors. I’ve been trying hard to get some quilting done, but since company has arrived, it has been almost impossible.

Two days after Tim and Luda arrived, we got another guest - Sasha, also Ukrainian, who actually lives in Turkey. He is also here to help my husband make a plan to work with Ukrainians. As such, what he is doing is also not part of this blog post. He has been helping when possible, as well - but he speaks limited English. Sasha and Tim know each other well. So now you get the picture? We have three guests with us - Tim and Luda are in the room where I have all the fabric and Sasha is on the couch because my daughters’ former room is chock full of quilts and I didn’t have enough warning to figure out what to do with all of them before knowing about Sasha. So the door to that room is staying shut currently and Sasha is on the hide-a-bed in the living room. They’ve assured me it is fine. I told them he could have total privacy in my long arm room in the basement if he wanted. (We could put a mattress on the floor.)

Having company does complicate things a bit- though Luda and Tim are great help. But, with just Mike and me here we are flexible - as to meals and such. With more people, there is less flexibility though sometimes meals just have to wait. Thankfully Luda likes to cook, so she’s done most of the dinners since she’s been here. Oh…Luda was one of my husband’s students in his early days of teaching in Ukraine AND she was in our home for a few weeks one time when our kids were young.

Anyway, so what have I been doing?

I’ve been trying to get Luda to meet people with whom she could talk - to encourage them, to encourage her, etc. So we’ve gone to the places around here with food and supplies as needed.

The men and Luda all went to meet a refugee, Lena, that they all knew from Ukraine (my husband and I didn’t - the others did) and see if she could help us. The problem? She is staying in a place about 45 minutes from us and it isn’t practical or feasible to go get her or have her drive this far - and the buses don’t run that route. So, the men thought it would be good to try to get her closer to us - as she was staying what used to call an “old folks home” - a “senior center” in the boonies. I knew that locally it is hard to find a place as they seem to be taken - but I thought, “Well, I will ask, and commit to a 6 month lease even if she doesn’t stay all that time and see if someone will answer.” So, I put a post in a Facebook group I’m in and said we have a lady with her 16-year-old daughter who need a place. I’ll admit, my faith was weak. Very weak.

But, within a few hours, a lady wrote me and said she had an apartment in Otwock that she would be willing to rent, quite reasonably. That was Thursday afternoon/evening.

On Friday morning, we called her and while the landlord had to go to work, we started corresponding. It had to be a nonsmoker. No problem. Our lady doesn’t smoke. There is no bed - we will need to find a bed. No problem. Can we see the apartment? How about Saturday? Sounds good. So, Saturday at noon, they all went to see the apartment, including Lena and her daughter.

They met the landlord, and my husband and the rest of the gang thought it was a good fit - landlord both seem very nice and the price was quite reasonable. (I was at our house fixing two pans of lasagna and 3 desserts for a meal on Sunday after church - with a bunch of people including some refugees.) After all that, Lena, her daughter and Sasha, Luda, Tim, and Mike and I ate at our house for Sat. dinner - Luda had fixed it, though - some before-hand and the rest after they arrived back home to our house after seeing the apartment.

So, Monday - the day you are reading this blog post - Lena and her daughter will probably be moving her things to the 36m (387 sq. ft.) apartment and be closer to us and be able to help us with whatever we are doing, while having their own privacy. She is thrilled. This will also put her closer to being able to find work as a cosmetologist as where she was previously, while a nice peaceful place, was not practical for actually earning a living and helping us. (Lena previously is from north of Kiev in an area that is being heavily bombed.)

This week we also met another lady (Oksana) and her family who live in a war torn area - and are currently here - near us - they had needed a vacuum cleaner and some big diapers/pants - for potty training a toddler, so I took that to them. (Contact was made through Facebook with the daughter of their landlord who is currently in the UK - long story.)

Then, at one of our visits to the place where we took the underwear, we saw Oskana again with her granddaughter. “Do you need anything?” “Yes, my granddaughter could use some tennis shoes - as she just has heavy boots - and a lighter weight coat”. After checking at our local place that is giving away clothing to Ukrainians and they didn’t have anything, I posted it on our local freecycle group and within minutes - and I mean minutes - I had offers of 2 pairs of tennis shoes and 2 jackets/coats that were perfect. I had to go get them - so that took much more arranging than the actual post did.

Then we took those things back to Oksana and her granddaughter, Eva, along with a stroller they needed that I had in my house waiting for a recipient.

At that time, we met the mom of Eva, and her great-grandmother. We sat and had some tea and talked. Well, mostly Luda talked. I listened - not really understanding much, though I do catch some when it’s Ukrainian. When it’s Russian, I understand less.

To summarize, our efforts this week have been again multi-faceted.

1. Personal contacts with local people and trying to meet needs as posted on Facebook groups I read. These have varied from the vacuum cleaner/stroller to a shelf for shoes to getting a frying pan and a couple of pots for someone.

2. Helping meet needs at the ladies’ shelter with items like bras and panties (as they often leave home with only what fits in a bag and that isn’t their biggest concern - things for their children or documents is more important than that). If you say to me, “You already told me that” - my reply will be that I got more. More ladies came through and they needed more. I am the kind of person that thinks that wearing second-hand outer clothes is fine - but I think underwear should be yours - and only yours. So new it should be.

3. Buying food and cleaning supplies for a local place that houses orphans and other people who come through.

I got to meet one of the cooks at the place where they’ve had the orphans and other ladies/children coming through. The ladies are helpers in the kitchen as well.

4. Preparing to send a van load to Ukraine by shopping locally ourselves and on line.

5. Filling flashlights with batteries so they are ready to go once they get to their intended targets.

6. Being transportation for a couple of young ladies who are working on filling up vans of their own. Without wheels, they struggle a bit and have to get creative on how to get food to the church garage where it waits for the next load to go. I only did that once - but we’ve helped a few times in the last few weeks. They are pretty independent young ladies, so that really hasn’t taken much of my time. When I did go to get their stuff, I managed to stick a few things in the van for our load going out on Monday (maybe) as well. They were buying pretty close to the church building where we are keeping stuff (as well as in our house) until the van leaves.

7. Oh yes - dealing with the media. That takes time - or at least thinking about it does. Oh, and I just heard that Sasha, the Ukrainian man, is preaching via Zoom to his church in Turkey in my fabric room - so my fabric stash is being exposed to the world! :) That’s funny.

Fox13 and Bay News 9 recently wanted to talk with me - along with Rachael. When the Bay News 9 guy asked me what I had been buying - the only thing that came to my mind immediately was “bras and panties” as that is what I had just been buying. The last thing I wanted was a sound byte saying that I had been buying bras and panties for the refugee women, so I just hesitated and laughed and then said, “Underwear”. I heard he thought I was nervous. I wasn’t as nervous as I was not wanting to be quoted saying exactly what I had been buying (bras/panties). I actually have a list of what I’ve been getting - I’m keeping it religiously. Let me list the things here.

• food - lots of it - both for people here and for people in Ukraine going as relief

• ladies’ hygiene products

• underwear - bras/panties

• diapers - all sizes

• vacuum cleaners

• heater

• tarps

• flashlights and batteries (AA, AAA, C, D to go with the flashlights)

• over-the-counter medications

• formula

• cleaning supplies including laundry detergent

• luggage tote bags

• blankets, duvet, duvet covers sets

• pillows

• bikes and bike locks

• mattresses, bunk bed, mattress covers

• indoor shoes (slippers - basic slides)

• deodorant

• bandages of various kinds

• pajamas

• pots and frying pans

• toothbrushes

• coloring books, crayons

• towels

• 2 tons of canned meat

• 10 medical kits headed for first responders in Ukraine (for firemen as they help them on the field)

One other small challenge we’ve had this week is getting boxes from our local package place. Maybe they are upset with me for ordering so much, but at times they’ve pushed small boxes to the back making us unable to get them without something to reach with or recently, they shoved a box in there and it fit so tightly that I had to tear it open in place (with a stick as I couldn’t reach it) and just pull out the inner boxes, leaving the outer box in the locker. The next person who fills it will have to deal with it.

Early last week, before they arrived, I also made some pillowcases for Tim and Luda. I realized my own personal supply of pillowcases is pitiful. So, while they didn’t go at all with the quilt on that bed - I made these. I told Luda she can take them with her when they leave if they want them.

Oh, and I have been tired - quite tired - this week. I’ve been on the verge of tears multiple times. I’m not as young as I used to be and the pressure is getting to me. I would appreciate your prayers for me personally. I know - many of you have encouraged me to take a break and relax.

I haven’t gotten to sew much at all. It’s just very hard to do that with people in the house. I should get up early and sew. The problem is, all the quilts on the bed weigh me down, keeping me in it in the mornings when I could get up! (That’s a physical problem akin to feline paralysis which is when you have a cat on your lap causing you to not be able to move.)

I’m usually too tired in the evening to be in the frame of mind to even try. I know that these things will pass, and I will get over it. I also know that some of you think I’m a whirlwind. I’m not, actually. One thing I normally am is, however, is focused. With multiple people here and things going on around me in so many directions, I not only feel unfocused, I feel completely off-balance. On one hand, I have plenty to do and people wanting many things from me - while not being able to get some (most) of my own things finished. I know my sis in FL feels this way often, but while here in Poland it’s been different for me.

That is not to say that I’m tired of helping. Far from it - just sharing a personal struggle or two.

Here are some photos of some things I’ve gotten this week. Thought you’d enjoy. That last picture is of some heavy duty tarps. They will be used in Ukraine for covering houses, or parts of houses, for people who have lost roofs, etc. It’s actually a rather sobering thought. As such, these tarps are your extra heavy duty types that are quite large. The ones shown are 4x5 (m) but I’ve got some even larger ones coming.

I hope this gives you just a glimpse of what I’ve been doing. Thanks so much for helping and caring and giving to this effort. If you want to give as well, you can do so here. The needs are great.

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!

Here’s one of the beauties we have!