CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — Mission Central has been working with for the past two weeks to collect basic necessities to send to and help the people of Ukraine.
Some of the items they are collecting include clothing, personal hygiene items, and blankets.
Mission Central says the items go to soldiers on the front line, those assisting with war efforts and those who are living in Ukraine.
They are are not assisting refugees at the moment, but they say that will be their focus later.
In order to make the donations possible, Mission Central partnered with a local business called Teknika.
The business is based in San Jose, California, but has a warehouse in Mechanicsburg. Teknika also had another one in Kharviv, Ukraine.
The business had to close their Ukranian warehouse in Kharkiv because of the war involving Russia.
Teknika was collecting and sending items over to Ukraine, but were struggling to sort through the donations.
That's where Mission Central came in.
The organization has a huge base of volunteers that were willing to sort goods and the ability to supply medical items, disaster recovery supplies and more.
After the donations are sorted at Mission Central, Teknika will send the items via a cargo van to Chicago.
From there, the donations will travel by plane into Poland. Teknika started by sending one plane trip per week but are now up to two trips per week.
The organization says the most needed donation right now are first aid items.
Here is the full collection list of items needed for Ukraine:
- Baby Food (plastic containers)
- New Clothing
- New Blankets
- First Aid Kits
- Dry food for the soldiers lightly boxed, expiration date 3-6 months out or greater
- Personal hygiene (shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc.) – please make sure these items are the smaller bottles/personal sized (not family size)
- Hand and foot warmers
- Pillar candles (no glass)
- Small first aid kits
- Feminine hygiene items
- Wrapped bars of soap
- Flashlights with batteries attached (not inside)
- Band-Aids
- Gauze Rolls and Pads
- Adhesive and Non-Adhesive Dressings
- Wound Treatments
- Alcohol Swabs/Pads
They have been able to collect over $130,000 in supplies to Ukraine. The organization says that number continues to grow everyday. They say the collection efforts will be ongoing.