(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — There’s a donation drive for Ukrainian relief tonight at a Polish basilica on the city’s Northwest Side.
The event runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at St. Hyacinth Basilica at 3636 W. Wolfram in Avondale.
Coordinator Natalia Ladzinska, a Polish immigrant, said she and some friends started planning it when war broke out in Ukraine a couple of weeks ago.
“There’s only so much of that you can really do,” she said. “That’s why a few of our friends gathered together, because we figured the only best way to get through this time is through action and doing something.”
Organizers are seeking “mostly medical and survival items as well as hygiene items,” Ladzinska said.
“We’re looking at anything like sleeping bags, tents, flash lights, trauma kits, any type of medical gear that is associated with stopping bleeding,” she said.
St. Hyacinth Basilica is partnering with the Junior Board of the Polish American Medical Society and the Legion of Young Polish Woman to collect items and ship them to organizations in Poland that will get them to Ukrainian refugees and to people in need in Ukraine.
Ladzinska said there already are hundreds of large moving boxes full of items such as diapers and medical supplies, including pain killers and burn and rash creams.
“Seeing how big of a community effort this has become is extremely uplifting and heartwarming,” she said.
People unable to bring donations to St. Hyacinth on Wednesday can drop off items at the Basilica’s Resurrection Hall on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.