By Belinda Henry
Yehuda Netanel, Developer for The Lake District, called me the morning of March 15th, asking me if I could help secure volunteers for a humanitarian relief group he just started called 901 Stands with Ukraine. It was set up to collect donated medical supplies for a field hospital to assist war-affected Ukrainians. I agreed to help and found many Lakeland families willing to donate their time, as well as local businesses willing to serve as collection points. We completed our collections this past weekend on April 2nd. Needless to say, we were very thankful and humbled by all the donations and assistance to this wonderful cause.
The drive was successful collecting over five tons of medical supplies and toys which will be delivered to the Israeli Field Hospital near the Ukraine border this week. Of special note, over 6,000 Delta Foremost Alcohol Wipes (500 cases) were delivered to Lakeland during the drive which was an extremely generous donation.
I’d especially like to recognize Ms. Megan Criner’s and Ms. Theresa Kerchoff’s 6th grade Lakeland Prep students for writing letters of encouragement to the people of Ukraine, as these will accompany the medical supplies collected. I’d also like to thank Cyclebar and OrangeTheory Fitness in Lakeland for serving as collection points, as well as Frost Bake Shop for donating cupcakes to our volunteers and donors.
Other area volunteers working the collection point at Cyclebar were:
– Kamal and (sons) Simardeep & Yashdeep Chaudhry
– Ursula and Baylor Roman
– Christy and (sons) Miles & Maddox and (daughter) Skye Delos Santos
– Cynthia and (daughter) Collins Webb
– Laura with (sons) Brandon & Karim and (daughter) Emma (worked multiple shifts)
– Megan Criner and (daughter) Marissa Vescovi
– Anderson Goforth
– Sabrina and (son) Luke Grady
– Steve Henry and (grandsons) Alex & Max Henry and (granddaughter) Brooke
– Sophie & Savannah Scholten
– Rebecca & Allison Floyd
– Amy and Jonathan Stuart & family
– Kathleen Long & family
– Silver White
– Ramona Gordin
– Lauren & Libby Baird
