Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered last weekend at their meetinghouses in Reading, Pottstown and Whitehall to separate and organize much-needed supplies for Ukrainian refugees.
The volunteers packed nearly 430 boxes to the brim with items like nonperishable food, diapers, blankets, personal hygiene products and medical supplies to be shipped to assist the war-torn country.
Peggy Shafer, the church’s local director of communication, said the effort to collect donations started shortly after the Russian military began its attack on Ukraine. She said Bishop Hyrum Lefler of the Reading congregation had been part of a church mission to Poland and wanted to organize an effort to help those fleeing their towns and cities in Ukraine.
Lefler asked Sarah Stapley and her daughter, Emma, of the Exeter congregation if they would like to be involved because Emma had recently returned from a church mission to eastern Ukraine. Sarah Stapley also invited Ukrainian native Anastasia Mead from the Pottstown congregation to the brainstorming meeting.
Soon they were joined by Karen Redford, president of the Reading congregation’s Women’s Relief Society who volunteered to organize effort in Berks County, and Lanae Duersch of the Pottstown congregation who agreed to head the effort in that area.
Mead was able to connect with the Paul Chester Children’s Hope Foundation, an organization already flying medical supplies to Poland that would then be sent across the Ukrainian border. The foundation agreed to work with the church to ensure their donations got to the people who need it the most.
Shafer said the foundation’s first plane was leaving early the following week, so the organizers knew that they had to act quickly. They immediately got the donation list to all of their 13 congregations and posted messages on social media inviting church members, friends and members of the community to donate the needed supplies.
“When I dropped off my donations to the Whitehall meetinghouse, what I saw were busy, smiling, happy people — all doing the Lord’s work,” Shafer said.
Bishop Rob Fultz of the Exeter congregation, President Jake Shuss of the Lehighton congregation and Brad Mead of the Pottstown congregation all donated their trailers to transport the hundreds of boxes to a warehouse where they were placed on pallets and wrapped in plastic to await transport to Poland.
“It was an amazing effort and so many people contributed to its success,” said Sarah Stapley. “The spirit of the Lord was with us and so many expressed thanks for being able to serve our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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