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The last blog
It has been 6 months since we returned from Krakow. We had high hopes of linking Rotaries in the US with the Krakow Rotary. Kay spoke to the Rotary in Spartanburg and to many other community organizations in Spartanburg. She was able to raise additional funds after every talk. I was invited to give a…
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A trip to the bank
In spite of the longer layover in Frankfurt, Mary made it to her home and in bed before we landed in Charlette. She was asleep when I texted her from the Charlette airport to let her know we had landed with our luggage. Teresa flew to Greenville- Spartanburg airport and had a shorter trip to…
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Back in the USA
This is all of us at 4 AM at Krakow airport. We all felt pretty good considering the early hour. Flight to Frankfurt was uneventful, but we landed a bit late and there was only 45 min until flight time for the 3 of us heading to O’Hare to connect back to the Carolina’s. We…
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Our bags are packed; We’re ready to go
We are all nearly bedded down at 10 PM with a 2:45 wake up call. Taxi will be here at 3:15 AM to start our journey home. We all fly to Frankfurt together. Mary has a 4 hour layover before her flight to Dulles. The rest of us have 1 hour to get to our…
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Random acts of kindness that lead to a new discovery
Thursday morning as we were trying to catch a taxi to go to Auchan, a woman asked Teresa for directions. The woman spoke Ukrainian but Teresa was able to understand enough to determine she was looking for what she thought was the Refugee Center we have been visiting. She walked her there and when she…
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If a picture is worth a thousand words….
At the Center yesterday, we were presented with a series of drawings and paintings done by the Ukrainian children and teens living there. Some were of their war experience imparting terror or the celebration of the Ukrainian successes, some expressions of their feelings and some were thanking us for their gifts of new clothes. Each…
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Hugs all around until we meet again
Today was our last day at the Refugee Center. We are pictured above with the 4 amazing women – Kasia and Paulina from Poland and Natalia and Vira from Ukraine – that manage and support this Center. Vira was presented with her 4women4 URS t-shirt today. We presented the Center with a few more clothes,…
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We’re starting the countdown with sadness
Mary’s turn to write today with Tamara editing and adding photos. Its wheels up for the four of us in just two days. This morning we shopped and delivered our last BIG load of coats, shoes, t-shirts, shirts and women’s shaving supplies. While our shopping prowess has improved and we filled four shopping carts to…
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Linking with the Krakow Rotary Club
Tonight we were fortunate to be able to join 1 of the 4 Krakow Rotary Clubs. They are proud that they are the oldest club in Krakow. The club was founded in 1934 but was not allowed to meet during Nazi occupation and the years under Communism. The first post-Communism meeting was in 1991 and…
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Finding a Ukrainian Pen Pal at Food Bank
Kay today. We started out today walking over to the refugee center, each carrying bags of clothing from yesterdays purchases.. Mostly shoes. Next shopping trip will focus on blue jeans. Natalie shared with us pictures the Center’s young girls have been working on. They are filled with emotion. We then walked over to the Jewish…