What Inspires Me #11-Strollers at the Border

This line of strollers stocked and waiting at the Polish train station for Ukrainian mothers arriving with young children made my heart sing. As I type Ukrainians are under siege. Bombs are exploding. Families are being torn apart. Homes, lives destroyed. While here, the sun is shining and my biggest worry is belly fat.

What can we do? How can we help?

Sunday, a friend shared a story of how, in response to a request for coats, hats, gloves to send to Ukraine, she emptied their winter closets and took everything to the collection center where her donations were turned away. The center was only taking the best of the best to send to the Ukraine. And, even at that, they were not sure how they were going to get the collected winter garments to the people in need. After being turned back, rather than being discouraged, my friend took the collected garments to a local mission where they were gratefully accepted. “We need your donations, right here, right now!” she was told.

Still…We Want to Help Ukrainian People. What can we do?

Do as those Polish families at the border do: Donate stuff locally. It might not be a glamorous to donate to organizations near home but think about it: By giving our stuff—clothing, food, time—locally, those organization and others can free up resources not spent here, there.

Donate dollars to Ukraine. Here’s a list of organizations put together by Global Citizen. 27 Meaningful Ways You Can Help Ukraine (globalcitizen.org)

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