SPRING – Inside a small nutrition store in Spring, Dmytro Ivanov and Michelle Garcia are packing up life-saving items for the terrified victims of war in Ukraine.
In the city of Kharkiv, right now, Dmytro’s mother and father, Natalia and Uri, are hiding inside a bunker underneath their home, a place they have fled to many times over the past few days as bombs and missiles and now rockets rain down on the city where Dmytro grew up in.
”Well, they are going through hell and devastation. The city has been bombed over and over, mostly during the night and they are firing missiles as well into the city and into the residential areas where people like my parents are living”, Dmytro said.
Now, with thousands of Ukrainians watching their homes being destroyed and their neighbors killed, Dmytro and business associate Michelle have started collecting badly needed items to be sent to Ukraine in the coming days and weeks.
“It’s critical there. There are people with no houses, people with no food”, Dmytro said.
Dmytro and Michelle are asking for donations of blankets, thermal wear, shirts, socks, gloves, coats, hygiene products and non-perishable foods.
All of this is to be collected at Grace’s Nutrition Market in Spring, located at 1421 Spring Cypress Road. The market will be accepting items between 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
”They should bring it right here to Grace’s Nutrition Market in Spring. We need to collect everything we can for these people”, Michelle said.
At the same time, The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston is hoping to raise millions of dollars in donations to help the Ukrainian people as well.
According to the Jewish Federation, there are over 200,000 Jewish people living in Ukraine.
Their goal is to raise more than 20 million in relief aid. To donate, visit the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston at www.houstonjewish.org.
