NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The mayor of a Jersey Shore town will be returning home Wednesday night after spending nearly a week helping with the humanitarian relief efforts at the border of Ukraine and Poland.
Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra, along with his best friend, flew to Poland last Friday.
"We went over with this mentality if we could just help one person we would feel like it was a successful trip," Kanitra told WCBS 880 on Wednesday before flying home. "We probably helped 1,000 people while we were over there, literally, and it feels like a drop in the bucket compared to the million that have already come across the Polish border."
Kanitra rented a 10-passenger van which he used to shuttle refugees from the border crossing to a humanitarian relief center, move supplies to and from the border, and help feed the hungry.
"We were handing out hot meals at the border. We were helping to prep food in the warehouse," Kanitra said.
Kanitra describe the scene at the border as "surreal," with sirens and flashing lights constantly going off, streams of police, ambulance and military vehicles, and dirt lots strewn with burning trashcan fires to fend off the cold.
"The people coming across the border never stop. They're constantly trying to flee their war-ravaged country — they come across whether it's 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning," Kanitra said. "The lines on the Ukrainian side stretch for hours, cars run out of gas, people are walking across the border, people are taking buses to the border and then walking across."
Kanitra said he experienced a roller coaster of emotions.
"It's constantly draining because in one instance you'll hand a teddy bear to a little girl who doesn't know where she is or why she's there and she lights up and the smile on her face is everything ... and then in the next, you see the look on people's faces when they realize what the refugee center looks and smells like and they're about to go into that situation as well," Kanitra said. "You see all the highs and all the lows in just a couple of seconds."
The New Jersey shore town where Kanitra is mayor has strong ties to Ukraine.
Kanitra said Ukrainians have staffed boardwalk jobs at home for years and this is his way to say thank you.
"The backbone of what makes Point Pleasant Beach work, and the rides operate, and the boardwalk function are young Ukrainian adults that have been coming over for years, and years, and years," said Kanitra.
In a Facebook post, published on Tuesday, Kanitra wrote that he spent his last full day on the Ukrainian border shopping for supplies and refilling tables at the refugee center with kids toys, surge protectors, power banks, warm gloves and socks.
Kanitra said he's going to be changed forever after his time at the border.
"This was a life-changing experience, I'm never going to be the same after this," Kanitra said. "It does make you thankful for everything that you have, but it also helps you realize how things can change in the blink of an instant. Most of the people coming across the border, a couple of weeks ago they were living normal lives, and all of the sudden they're racing away from rockets."
For those who would like to help, Kanitra recommends donating to the following organizations: the Polish Red Cross, World Central Kitchen and Caritas Poland.
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