TAMAQUA, Pa. — The hat says it all. Andrew Leibenguth showed us the smiley face on his hat while we chatted virtually. It would be one of the few brief breaks he'd take this day before leaving a Ukrainian refugee shelter well after midnight.
The Tamaqua native didn't travel to Poland as part of an organization. He didn't have any instructions on where to go or what to do. He went alone, with one goal in mind: To make people smile.
And the smiles on these children's faces tell us he's succeeding. This was taken inside a shelter in Warsaw housing thousands of refugees.
Leibenguth has spent countless hours in places like this over the last 11 days.
He doesn't speak Ukrainian or Polish, so he's relying on the universal language of laughter, using magic tricks and comedy to bring some joy to refugees, volunteers, and emergency personnel, and distract them from the struggles they're facing, even if it's only for a few minutes.
Leibenguth knows that for many of them, he may be the sole bright spot in their day.
"Even just blowing bubbles makes the kids start jumping around, and you see the parents videotaping them and all that kind of stuff. So they're very, very, very appreciative. They tell me that, and it makes me feel good."
Leibenguth is also a Marine Corps veteran. He served in Iraq in 2004. He now has PTSD, so he wanted to stay away from the front lines but still wanted to help.
So, he packed up a bag of tricks, bought some funny costumes from a thrift store in Warsaw, and started his one-man show.
When asked if he's lonely, Leibenguth said:
"Oh yeah, I'm lonely. Because the language barrier makes a big gap. But what makes it happy - it's funny, they care as much about me as I care about them. They see that I'm tired, and the refugees are like, 'Hey, you need to go sleep,' or do this, do that; they're giving me coffee,"
And his friends back home in Tamaqua want to help too. Some even helped fund his trip to Poland.
Leibenguth has been documenting his journey on social media, posting daily updates on his efforts.
You can follow along on his YouTube page here.