The Community Foundation of Macon County, WSOY 1304am/ 103.3Fm and NowDecatur are raising funds to support “Hope from the Heartland“, helping the refugees of Ukraine with a radiothon, Tuesday, May 2nd from 6am-9am.
A year after the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, over 13 million refugees have been displaced. That is a third of the country’s population. The invasion caused Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II and its aftermath and is the largest refugee crisis of the 21st century. Hope from the Heartland provides life-saving relief straight from our community to those who have lost everything.
The greatest concentration of refugees is in Poland, which has seen some 1.6 million refugees register in Poland, as of January 2023. The 1.6 million refugees in Poland are primarily women and children. This fundraiser is directly providing help to displaced Ukrainians.
Over the course of the past year, Decatur’s very own Wayne and Leslie Kent have collected almost $250,000 raised through donations from people just like you. The Kents will be leading a mission trip back to Poland this May. The couple has seen first hand the need of the Ukrainian refugees in Poland and the lifechanging impact of donations from Central Illinois.
While in Poland, Leslie met Irena, who with her husband walked out of Mariopol 3 months after their home was leveled by bombings. The couple lived in their basement for those 3 months, coming up to the outside just once a day in order to, “See the sky to determine we are still alive!”
Through the past year, they have dispersed $250,000 in the following ways:
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- Transports to Ukraine – we send 2 semi-trucks per week, loaded with food, medicine and material
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- Wood burning stoves that produce both heat and a cooking source ($100 each)
- Housing for thousands of people and mattresses for churches and civic auditoriums to use on floors in auditoriums
- Food for pre-school children ($4/day)
- Language training for hundreds of students
- Furniture for pre-K centers (with help from IKEA Poland)
- Washers/dryers for refugee intake centers
- Paper, copying machines, supplies for a center, one block from the Ukrainian embassy in Warsaw – offering free of charge copying service.
- Counseling and psychological assessments for children impacted by the war.
