LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Bags of medical supplies and other items are starting to pile up at Abington Heights High School near Clarks Summit.
Kaylin Wilbur is a senior at the high school and says she and a classmate saw an opportunity to help and got to work.
"We've gotten a lot," Wilbur said. "I brought the boxes in for donations today, and we already had some piling up before I got here, so we had to add more because we've got a bunch of people helping out."
DePietro's Pharmacy in Dunmore also joined in the effort, collecting medical supplies, children's clothing, and nonperishable items.
Karissa Hausman says one of the pharmacy's long-time customers has family in Ukraine. The pharmacy placed a large order for supplies to donate and knew there would be others who would support it.
"We just wanted to do so much more than that initial order, so we decided to post it on Facebook to let our community know what we're doing, and we started collecting right away," Hausman said.
The outpouring of support from the community has already been so great. Enchanted Elephant Boutique has even donated thousands of dollars worth of children's clothing.
All donations will be taken to St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Scranton.
While many of the people donating may not have a direct connection to Ukraine, they feel it's the right thing to do.
"Just standing next to them, hearing their stories, you're just motivated to do anything you can to help them," Hausman said.
"Being able to help out other people and understand other communities, we can really grow and learn as human beings, especially high school students. We'll learn about other people and become better overall," Wilbur added.
These donations will leave the area to head to Ukraine this Saturday, but there are more shipments planned.
DePietro's Pharmacy will continue to collect donations for at least the rest of the month.
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