LENEXA, Kan. — Heart to Heart International got its start helping the people of Ukraine.
"The nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, and I think some years after that, there was a group of Kansas City Rotarians to travel to that part of the world, to Belarus and Ukraine, to see if there was anything they could do to assist,” said Dan Neal, Heart to Heart International's vice president of operations. "And then as the Soviet Union is collapsing in the early 1990s, 91, 92, the economic situation in that part of the world was such that hospitals and clinics just didn’t have the medicine and medical supplies.”
Three decades later, Heart to Heart is back right where it started after organizing an airlift in 1992.
“It’s really sad for an organization like Heart to Heart to be needed in a place like Ukraine 30 years later,” Neal said. "But now given the conflict that’s there, it’s risen back up to a level of serious, serious sort of desperation.”
After sending aid to over 100 countries, Neal says the organization continues to pour its heart out.
“We have a number of partners that are working there on the ground, and they were there prior to the war breaking out," he said. "So we have been sending emails, text messages, having phone calls with those organizations to find out first of all, are they okay? Is their staff okay? How are they doing? Following up with is there any assistance that they need? What things do they think they are going to need in the weeks and months to come?”
The Heart to Heart International warehouse is loaded with supplies ready to provide aid.
“We have a large number of hygiene kits here — over 40,000 hygiene kits here in our warehouse that we are prepared to send as soon as we can figure out the logistics to make that happen," Neal said.
Hygiene kits, medical supplies and other necessities lined in rows and stacked in columns, Heart to Heart International is hopeful it can once again help the people of Ukraine.
“We are excited about the opportunity to reach out to the Kansas City community again 30 years later to also respond to a need in this part of the world,” Neal said.
For more information on how to help, visit the Heart to Heart International donation page.
