Photo by Kamil Gontarz.
By Kevin Deutsch
Local donors are helping save the lives of Ukrainian war refugees in need, sending more than $3,600 in donations to survivors with the help of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher.
Polish-born MSD teacher Dr. Ewa Danelczyk has spent the past eight days raising funds to pay for life-saving medications for scores of Ukrainian war refugees displaced by Russia’s ongoing invasion.
The air and ground assault has forced hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to flee to Poland, where humanitarian groups and citizens struggle to help with the crisis, including Danelczyk’s family.
Her relatives work at The Blue Pharmacy in Chelm, Poland, about 15 miles from the Ukrainian border. The pharmacy is helping waves of refugees receive life-saving, and over-the-counter drugs, including insulin, heart medication, cough syrup for kids, cold and flu medication, bandages, pain relief drugs, and antibiotics, the biology and honors biology teacher said.
Her Facebook fundraiser to pay for war refugees’ medicines began March 2 with a modest $1,000 goal. As of Wednesday afternoon, at least $3,630 had been raised.
“People are still donating,” Danelczyk said. “For that, I am grateful.”
According to the United Nations, around two million people have fled Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces began a relentless campaign of bombings, air assaults, and ground attacks last month.
The refugees include an estimated one million Ukrainian children.
“Ukrainians are still coming in, and the local Blue Pharmacy, with the cooperation of the local hospital and Rotary Club in Chelm, Poland, are serving Ukrainians refugees,” Danelczyk said, adding that refugees are waiting in line between five and twenty hours to cross the border.
“These locals are organizing volunteers who are going to the border [shared by Ukraine and Poland] and are helping refugees. Besides medicines, people need food, clothing, and shelter daily.”
Donors can contribute to Danelczyk’s campaign by visiting her fundraiser page. The Facebook fundraiser will end on March 10, she said.
To contribute to the cause separately or after the fundraiser, donors can send money to a bank account created especially for that purpose, according to Danelczyk.
The account information is:
Rotary Club Chelm
22-100 Chelm STR, Lwowska 24, Poland
acc# PL91124022231111001012784090
SWIFT: PKOPPLPW
NOTE: HELP FOR REFUGEE MEDICINE (must be written)
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