Local Rotarians assemble disaster kits for Ukraine

Taylor Cooper, The Brunswick News, Ga.
·2 min read

Mar. 21—Members of all four local Rotary Clubs and several from other towns in Southeast Georgia assembled at MAP International's headquarters in Brunswick to assemble disaster kits for Ukraine last week.

Joe Leek, president of the St. Simons Island Rotary Club, said members of the St. Simons, Brunswick, Golden Isles, Jekyll Island, Camden, Kings Bay, Savannah, Skidaway and Perry clubs put together over 2,000 kits in a few hours, all of which will be shipped to Ukraine and refugee camps in Poland.

Before they even began assembling the kits on Thursday, Leek said MAP had "skids and skids of things heading to Poland or Moldova," both of which border Ukraine.

On Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the country, displacing millions and causing just under 3.3 million people to flee the country entirely as of Friday, according to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Typically MAP makes disaster kits for areas stricken by natural disasters, especially hurricanes, said Leek, but much of those already prepared have been diverted to aid victims of the invasion of Ukraine.

"They're for people who are evacuating to like a school or a stadium and had to leave everything behind," Leek said, and include basic hygiene products.

"For a while we've been churning out these disaster packs, getting ready for hurricane season here. Then the Ukraine thing happened, and there's been a tremendous request."

The organization is aiming to create another 40,000 kits. For more information on volunteering, visit map.org/volunteer-with-us.

Cooperation such as this between MAP and Rotary clubs is not new. One of the programs Beverly Trainor, outgoing governor of the Rotary's Southeast Georgia region and another member of the St. Simons Island Rotary, helped establish was Saving Lives with Medicine.

Through the program, Leek said the Rotary finances donations of medicine to free clinics in Southeast Georgia via MAP International.

"They get medicines donated that have about a year left that the pharmacies won't take," Leek said. "They've gone to major manufacturers and asked for these medicines and then sending them to Christian missionaries who are doing medical mission work in impoverished areas."

It was around four to five years ago that MAP started assembling disaster kits, said Leek, who has long volunteered with the Brunswick-based nonprofit.