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Container II-1999 | Krajina Refugees
1.
Container II - 1999
Dear Friends,
Great news! Container II was loaded with humanitarian aid over the past
weekend, and, on Tuesday, December 28, departed for Serbia!
This is the best New Year’s present for many of the refugee children
and their parents who are struggling to survive the winter. This is also
another great success for our community and our friends across the US.
We are very grateful to all of you who have contributed to this monumental
effort.
We are sending around 10 tons of aid, including around 300 new comforters,
100 pairs of new shoes, 120 new winter jackets, 300 new raincoats, around
100 new blankets and towels; a large amount of almost new warm winter
clothes, shoes and bedding; hygiene supplies; medicines and medical supplies;
toys; and other items. We estimate that over 1000 refugee families will
benefit from the shipment.
Sent under the care of Serbian Relief, this project was, again, a truly
joint effort with our St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church of Boston, and
our warmest thanks go to father Aleksandar Vlajkovic, parish members and
the Church Board. We are also grateful to the Church Relief Committee
of The Serbian Orthodox Church – Diocese of Eastern America, which
covered all the expenses related to the shipment of aid to Serbia.
I would also like to emphasize the contribution of the Lutheran Church
of Newton; Baptist Church of Cambridge; Temple Isaiah of Lexington; Reading
College Club; Baptist Church of Beverly; Temple Beth Shalom of Framingham;
and other churches, synagogues and organizations. Our friends are great
in numbers and in heart.
In addition, this effort would've not been possible without our donors:
Chris Russak and her sister; Alex and Alla Tarnopolsky who also drove
6 hours from Philadelphia to bring us a full van of aid; Robert Zackin;
Allan Haberman; Linda Antonucci; Ljiljana Grkovic; Marko Kocic; Miljana
Bovan; Stephanie and Novak Niketic; David Mladinov; family Velickovic;
Olga Boskovic; Li and Gina Grigoris and many other Greek friends; so many
donors who mailed or brought their aid to our church or directly to Mirjana;
and all of you who joined us at our dancing party in October since all
the proceeds went toward buying the items for the container.
Special thanks go to the "Container II Team" (that did the final
packing of boxes and filling the labels, and managed to load 3/4 of the
container in only 3.5 hours(!); many of them also helped us do the final
shopping on Sunday and Monday morning):
Saturday: Containter II team in action!
Father Aleksandar Vlajkovic; Mirjana and Rade Petrovic (special thanks go to Rade for providing his special domestic brandy that kept us warm throughout the loading ordeal ;); Sika Somberg; Pavle, Olivera and Maja Medunic; Ugljesa Krstanovic; Ljuba and Zdravka Radic; Dordje and Petra Draganic; Milan and Mirela Zilic, Stevan Radanovic; Milan Serdar; Dusan and Bosko Kuljic; Dusan Stanojevic; Srdjan Nickovic; Marko Kocic; David Mladinov; Jelena Savic; Stephanie, Novak, Dara and Max Niketic; Olga Boskovic.
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| Sunday:
The container is almost full, but not quite yet. This gives a great
photo opportunity to Father Aleksandar, Mirjana, Alla, Jovan, Alex,
and Ugljesa. |
Monday:
How many more can we fit? Well, maybe just one more ... ; |
The Container II Team in photo action ;
The loading effort was also a great socializing event, with music (even some dancing ;) and a lot of laughter despite bitter cold.
Saturday: Mirjana's mom made a great lunch on Saturday after the loading was finished.
Take a look
at more pictures at http://people.ne.mediaone.net/petrovic/images/
Many thanks to all of you who helped us in many ways in the last three months.
This whole project would have not been possible without the contribution
from all of you. Thank you very much again.
2. "Face to Face With Krajina Refugees" by Kyoshi Igusa, former SANE Board member.
