PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — They thought they were going to ship about two dozen boxes.
Instead, hundreds of volunteers at a Ukrainian organization in Jenkintown have sent about 11,000 boxes of supplies to help those living in and escaping Ukraine, and they still have more to pack.
“We’re just thankful,” said Olga Mykhaylyuk, one of the organizers of a team of volunteers at the Ukrainian Education and Culture Center which started taking in an overflow of donations just days after the Ukraine-Russia War began.
“The first week, we were crying nonstop, because it was like a movie. Unbelievable. Really? It's really happening?" added Mykhaylyuk.
“When you’re at home, at work, you’re only thinking about Ukraine. Watching nonstop news. But when we come in here, we feel part of [it], like we’re helping Ukraine.”
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As they watch the devastation from afar, Olga says volunteers like Diana Komuta are uniting together to pack, seal, and send donation boxes filled with food, clothes, medical gear, and much more.
"For a couple days I wanted to cry, because it was amazing how people who just have no connection to Ukraine [are]. They're just being human beings,” Komuta said.
“It’s amazing to see how people are united, and it feels like everyone became Ukrainian.”
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Shippers are sending the stuffed boxes to Poland, where humanitarian efforts are handing donations out while refugees face the unimaginable.
"There are people who have 40 or 50 refugees in their house,” said Mykhaylyuk. “I just have to imagine, oh my gosh, what would I do with 40 people in my house for three weeks?”
Mykhaylyuk said she heard of a man who was overjoyed of receiving a can of tuna.
“But then they will divide this tuna can for a couple of days because they never know when they’ll receive the next one,” said Mykhaylyuk.
If you'd like to donate, Mykhaylyuk said that at the moment, the UECC is taking military and medical supplies, medication, dry baby formula, and cash.
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