BOCA RATON, Fla. — As the war in Ukraine continues, in South Florida, the help is also continuing. One Boca Raton organization is preparing to send a container filled with supplies to the war-torn region.
For the past few months, volunteers with the organization Boca Helps Ukraine have been collecting supplies to ship overseas.
The group has sent more than $40,000 worth of medical supplies to the people in Ukraine and now more recently they have been calling on the community for diapers, canned goods, and other non-perishable items.
They have filled a 25,000-cubic-foot container with supplies and are preparing to send it overseas.
“I just knew I had to do something,” said Mariya Kemper Reiss. “I had to jump in and do something.”
Kemper Reiss was born in Ukraine and said she felt it was her duty to get involved and send hope overseas.
“You see this project come through and start with nothing with a couple of boxes and an idea and turn into an enormous container that takes over half of the parking lot in the back,” said Reiss.
The container is set to leave Boca Raton this week and head to Poland before crossing the border into Ukraine. The organization plans to continue to send supplies but will now focus more on fundraising.
“We are pivoting as things are hitting us and we’re trying to adjust our efforts on what the needs are going to be in a couple of weeks,” said Reiss. “Not even today’s needs but what they are going to need in a couple of weeks.”
Sunday is the last day to bring supplies to fill the container. Anyone who would like to donate can drop off humanitarian aid items at Park Place shopping mall located at 5560 N. Military Trail, Bay 322 (formerly Salon Bardot), Boca Raton, FL 33496 until 7 p.m.
Financial support is also being collected through Temple Beth El of Boca Raton’s Disaster Relief Fund online or via checks sent to the temple. The donation is for Boca Helps Ukraine.