DANBURY — When St. Joseph school and Parish in Danbury organized a donation drive for Ukrainian refugees, the community response was overwhelming.
Now, three months after that first request for donations, 378 boxes filled with diapers, medical supplies, clothes and other goods along with nearly 2,000 bags of other essential items, have arrived in Wałbrzych, Poland.
The 40-foot shipping container filled with nine tons of donated goods was delivered to the Municipal Social Welfare Center in Wałbrzych and the neighboring Orthodox Church of All Saints in Wałbrzych in mid-June.
The Ukraine-Wałbrzych Association released a thank you statement shortly after the delivery was received: “We thank all children and adults from the heart for their help and support. For your letters, your wishes. Thank you for everything!”
Some 9.9 million Ukrainian refugees have fled the country since Russia invaded in late February, with more than 4.9 million crossing into Poland, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
The plan to send the goods to the Municipal Social Welfare Center, where the sister of one of St. Joseph’s parishioners had been working to process refugees, was quickly adjusted because of the influx donations.
“We did start working with the Municipal Social Welfare Center in Poland,” said Megan Cerullo, Director of Advancement and President of the PTO at St. Joseph School. “Because of the complexity and volume of the shipment, they ended up having to partner with various organizations, notably the Orthodox Church of All Saints. It was a team effort on all ends.”
The drive was initially conceptualized by Cerullo’s mother, Maryellen Guerriero, who lives in Long Island and has two grandchildren at St. Joseph.
“This idea started with my mother,” Cerullo said. “She had really wanted to do something that would make a difference, so we started talking to people and we realized everyone so badly wanted to help but did not have an outlet to do so.”
The success of the drive presented new obstacles, mainly the question of how to get the goods into Poland.
“John Clancy of Clancy Relocation and Logistics played an integral role. Without hesitation, John donated our shipping boxes and manpower to help pack the container,” Cerullo said.
When St. Joseph school and the Parish reached out to the community for help with the shipment, the call was answered again.
“We were able to raise a substantial amount of money through private donations coupled with some business donations here in the community,” Cerullo said. “Thankfully because of that, we were able to cover the costs associated with sending the shipment to Poland by way of a 40-foot shipping container.”
The monetary donations went beyond covering shipping fees, with an additional $8,000 to cover crucial costs including food, formula, diapers as well as summer camp funding for displaced Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
“It took several weeks of additional time to audit everything that had come in, to sort, segment and pack,” Cerullo said. “We wanted to make sure that we did it the right way, so it took some extra care and time, but it was the best way to ensure that the integrity of the drive would be upheld. I believe we were able to accomplish that.”
Neighboring schools, local businesses and organizations, parishioners and St. Joseph parents and students pitched in to help with packing and organization of the donations.
“It ended up growing into a truly unified team effort on completely different ends of the world working together for a common cause that was much greater than us,” Cerullo said. “I think that is the lesson. Even though there is a war going on, that does not represent the majority of people in this world.”
Included in the shipment were handwritten cards from children and middle schoolers involved with the donations.
“The children were incredible in the way that they could be,” Cerullo said. “They made handmade cards and helped move and pack in the weeks after the drive. Some of the cards were truly unbelievable — one child writing to another child in a different language, but the sentiments were universal.
“It doesn’t matter what our difference are at the end of the day,” Cerullo said. “This undertaking represents the good in this world, and it so far outweighs the bad.”
