Members of the Franklin Rotary Club do a meal-packing event with Pack Away Hunger, a nonprofit that puts together nutritious meal packets to feed the hungry locally and around the world.
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Ruin has washed over Ukraine for more than a year.
The invasion by Russia, and desperate fighting to protect their homeland, has left the country and its people teetering on collapse.
According to the World Bank, the war has left nearly 25% of the Ukrainian people living in poverty. The United Nations has found that 20% of the population is reliant on humanitarian aid to survive, with 44% of people saying they don’t have enough money to meet essential needs.
“We really recognized the pain the people of Ukraine are going through,” said Carol Phipps, a member of the Franklin Rotary Club. “We’ve all seen pictures, we’ve read about it.”
Local leaders want to do something to help. Johnson County’s three Rotary Clubs — in Franklin, Greenwood and the Center Grove area — are working together to pack 100,000 meals for victims of the war in Ukraine. In order to fund the meal packing event, which will take place on Nov. 4 and 5, organizers are soliciting donations from throughout the community.
They’ve reached out to others throughout the community to fund the packing event. Their goal is to raise at least $35,000; the more that is raised, the more meals that can be packed.
“The reason I joined Rotary was to provide service to the community. Our motto is ‘Service above self.’ You become a Rotarian because you want to serve your community,” said Lisa Lintner, a member of the Franklin Rotary Club. “We are so moved by what has happened in Ukraine, and using our expertise, what could we do that we knew we could trust.”
“We’re looking for any service club, any church, business, individual, schools, anyone who wants to help,” Phipps said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has ravaged the country in ways that will take years to recover. Constant fighting and bombing has obliterated Ukraine’s infrastructure and economy, making basic aspects of life such as finding food or getting clean water increasingly difficult.
The longer the war goes on, the more the hardships facing the Ukrainian people fade into the background, Phipps said.
“Even if the war ends tomorrow, it’s going to take years to recover,” she said.
Phipps reached out to the leaders of the two other county Rotary Clubs about working together on a meal-packing project. She was surprised to learn the Center Grove club was already working on a humanitarian project focused on Ukraine, and the Greenwood club was fully in support of joining as well.
“That was part of the huge appeal to this — what could we do, besides raising money, to really meet an essential need, a basic need for them,” Lintner said.
To achieve this goal, Rotary Club leaders reached out to Pack Away Hunger. The Beech Grove-based organization puts together meal packaging campaigns to help reduce hunger and malnutrition locally and around the world.
Through partnerships with different schools, churches, businesses and other groups throughout the area, they are able to pack and distribute nutrition-fortified meals, that simply require water, a pot and heat to prepare.
“They jumped at the chance to do this with us. They’ve already packed some meals for Ukraine, and have partners willing to pick up the cost of shipping meals there,” Phipps said.
With the meal-packing event planned, the focus now is on raising money for the meals. Rotary Club members have made presentations to organizations around the county to raise awareness of their plans and get donation commitments from the community.
In addition, members are sharing the idea with other Rotary Clubs and organizations throughout the state, hoping to amplify the humanitarian effort through donations.
“We’re really talking how we want it to be about the state of Indiana who is doing this,” Lintner said.
On Nov. 4 and 5, organizers will gather hundreds of volunteers to help pack the meals in assembly-line stations. Though the locations are still being considered, most likely the clubs will have one in Franklin and one in the Greenwood area to accommodate more people, Phipps said.
The process is designed so volunteers of any age and ability can help with it.
“It’s a chance for volunteers from across the community to come together in a really fun setting. Even little kids can do it,” Phipps said. “It really helps teach the youth in the community, about giving and making a difference.”
AT A GLANCE
Ukraine hunger relief program
What: An effort to raise money to pack 100,000 meals to address the humanitarian crisis ongoing in Ukraine.
Who: The Franklin, Greenwood and Center Grove Rotary Clubs
When: The meal-packing event will be held Nov. 4 and 5
How to help: Online donations can be made at donate.packawayhunger.org/rotary-ukraine-relief
Checks can be sent to Pack Away Hunger, 5230 Park Emerson Dr., Suite A, Indianapolis, IN 46203. Include “Rotary-Ukraine” in memo line to fund the project.
Donations are tax-deductible.
