Weekly Review of Ukraine Efforts
This past week we did quite a bit again - on a couple different fronts.
I ordered quite a few things so I had to deal with the things that were ordered -moving boxes, etc.
I moved the last of the quilt bundles from the room downstairs to the van and then to the church. The remaining ones are waiting for a lady to take 35 of them to some refugees in southern Poland - desperately poor, from what I understand.
Monday
I had ordered a lot of things for our local Ukrainian ladies’ center. Rachel and I went to the store to get some groceries and other needed items. I had written Tonia, the seeming “house mother” to those ladies and asked her what they needed. She told me. I then ordered some things and then asked Rachel if we could go shopping on Monday and take it to them.
So we did that.
Here are pictures from them. Over 100 ladies and children live here - refugees. This is a local place - about 20 minutes by foot from our church building. Some of the ladies have jobs by now but some need to stay with their little children.
Later in the afternoon I took over a load of quilt bundles - as I had wanted to get that room EMPTIED ASAP. I had done a lot of work in the last week as to getting that room emptied - but still had a little bit to do.
The room looked like this by the end of the day.
Tuesday
I went to the package place and picked up a bunch of packages that arrived AND I took them to the church along with about 20 or so quilt bundles that were left. I took all these things to the church garage and put them there. This day I also took all the rest of the bundles that were downstairs and put them upstairs in the living room. Any above the 35 Jadwiga needs went into the vehicle to be taken to the garage to begin their journey out of Poland.
Once I took things to the garage, I put them in piles for 1. Mike’s trip to Bila Tserkov, 2. A pile for Kharkov which is at the end of October and 3. a pile for the local ladies/children’s center in Otwock - refugees.
The kinds of things coming in packages are adult diapers, black leggings, wool blankets, power banks, candles, and warm socks.
It was Tuesday afternoon that I heard about my residency card being processed and waiting for me next Friday, the 14th to pick up.
Thirty five quilt bundles for children and teens who ae refugees here in Poland - in the southern part of the country. Jadwiga is going to come for them. I eventually moved them out of the living room as I needed the floor. She hasn’t come yet but hopefully soon.
Wednesday
I had to get even more things from our local paczkomat which is the package locker - like an Amazon locker. Then I organized things I had gotten locally from Action, a store like Big Lots, and piled them in boxes. These are things for Bila Tserkov. I also hit up a couple of deep discount stores like Lidl and Biedronka for cleaning supplies like laundry detergent.
Thursday
The last of the things that I bought for the ladies’ center arrived today - a bit earlier than had been predicted which was Friday. I asked my husband and we packed things into the truck and the van and took them. What all did we get them?
Well, they had needed 7 more desks for the children who are in this place to do schoolwork in their rooms. We’ve been in the rooms - and the only thing in the rooms are beds. So…it is hard to do homework- esp. writing, on mattress - and so I believed it was fine to get them desks. I also added a desk chair, a lamp and an extension cord to each desk. We ended up taking 7 such sets.
She also said that they needed a vacuum cleaner (she asked for a second-hand one but I don’t have one of those) and some soft padded blocks for their 1 year olds who are learning to walk to have something to toddle on which won’t be as cold since their floors are quite cold. So, I bought a few of those foam colorful blocks for them to spread on the floor. They weren’t expensive.
These are office chairs - they arrived. Plus some adult diapers (on the right side). Because they arrived on Thurs. I decided we should just go ahead and deliver them to the center.
On this day we did not take any food or other type pantry items. This is a group of things for them that I believe will be extremely helpful for the children as they go to Polish school and begin to adjust to life here.
In addition to those cushy things to walk on, we got the vacuum cleaner, lamps and also 50 plain white plates and 50 bowls - plain white - like Corelle - firm called Luminarc. Each plate cost about $1. I thought the price was fine and will really help. They also asked for flatware and cups. I didn’t buy any mugs for them as they seem to be everywhere - and will try to find some second-hand. We did clean out the flatware at the church and took it to them - and am replacing the flatware at church.
After we delivered those things, I hit up Lidl again and found some huge cans of tuna and diapers in large bags and I also got some blankets from the package locker. These are for Bila Tserkov - Mike’s trip in a couple of days.
Friday
All I did today was take the things that were in the van to the garage at church. I took no photos. Sorry about that. I just didn’t think about it.
Saturday
I didn’t do anything today except order a couple of things for some places.
And that’s what we did this week. It’s been pretty busy - but not crazy. I’m expecting to do a lot of shopping on the day you read this in preparation for the next trip. Then we are planning on another big trip at the end of the month. I will begin to work on all that soon. I had ordered a lot for them but much of it will be diverted to the trip this week and I will instead reorder that group’s things.
And there you go. That’s it for this week.
Any time you see a load coming or going - there is quite a bit of preparation that goes into that load. :)
Have a great day wherever you are reading this. Thanks for coming along with me on this journey!
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