VanOrd and her 17-year-old daughter, Lily, returned April 12 from Poland where the two helped locals as part of a growing global movement to assist Ukrainians. The Warren County woman, who is also the owner of Allegheny Outfitters, said her family had been paying close attention to the Ukraine-Russia war and originally sought out an organization “on the ground” to make a donation. She then came across Matt McKissock, who was in Krakow, Poland, with a cousin and friends meeting with Polish volunteers.

“This small group of extraordinary humans, who have kids and lives just as we all do, saw firsthand what was happening in their city and took it upon themselves to organize, coordinate, and lead every aspect of the refugee crisis within their neighborhood, which is roughly five to six times the size of the city of Warren,” VanOrd said. “The group that’s been formed by Matt and his small team of volunteers in the United States and the United Kingdom, Ukraine Relief Initiative, has partnered with the ( Krakow Debniki for Ukraine) team to provide much-needed resources.”

On April 5, VanOrd and her daughter headed to Krakow, a southern Poland city near the border of the Czech Republic. During their stay, the two were based out of Krakow and spent most of their relief effort in the Polish city.

Leading up to their trip, VanOrd spoke several times with McKissock. “First and foremost, of course, was safety,” she said. “If my daughter was going to come with me, I can’t be putting her in danger. Matt assured me Krakow was functioning as normal. And it was. We’ve also traveled abroad before, and I lived in Sicily for two years while in the Navy, so the normal culture shock wasn’t an issue, and Google Translate was very helpful.”

Pictured are the chefs making the 350 meals to be delivered by local volunteers to refugees.

It became apparent after arriving that assistance was not only needed, it was “immense,” as millions of Ukrainians have fled their country since the Russian invasion began Feb. 24. She noted that thousands of displaced Ukrainians have arrived by train in Krakow.

“Community members basically clean out a spare room if they have one, make a sign that states something along the lines of, ‘One bedroom available for family…’ and a family will walk up and ask them to please pick them,” she said. “And that’s only one example; there are literally hundreds daily.”

VanOrd said their effort was “but one small part of one drop in this ocean of crisis.” During their stay, the two used a van to deliver medicine and food to the border to be delivered into Ukraine. Each day they also delivered 350 meals made by chefs from Ukraine, Poland, and the U.S. as well as filling shelves of distribution centers with basic needs including soap, shampoo, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products and canned food.

Their trip to Poland was self-funded, and their efforts once there were assisted through donations from the Warren community and friends.

“We did not stop working the entire time we were there, from sunup to well after sundown,” she said. “I feel we did all we could. With that being said, the first day I woke up back in the U.S. here at home, the first thing I saw on social media was the same shelves we’d been filling, now completely empty. The need is just so great.”

VanOrd said it’s hard to wrap her mind around what is happening in Ukraine. “It is the deepest sadness I have ever experienced with and for other humans,” she said. “I’m grateful to have been able to make so many new Ukrainian and Polish friendships that I’ve no doubt will last throughout my life.”

She also learned a lot on their trip.

“We are all so much more connected than we realize,” she said. “These people are you and I. They are our mothers and daughters, sisters, neighbors, friends. They are our grandparents and grandkids. And they look so tired. Ripped from the lives they’d built, experienced unthinkable hardships and atrocities to cross over an imaginary line that is safe; now standing in a line to receive basic necessities like soap or a toothbrush. Hundreds of thousands of them. I give so much credit to the “helpers” in Krakow that have dropped their everyday lives, pulled together, and come up with these systems to help them.”

VanOrd plans to return to Poland on May 12; he son is finishing his semester at Jamestown Community College, and with a “solid crew to hold down the fort at our small business,” they are planning a quick six-day trip.