Ellsworth HS students in Hearts and Minds collect supplies for Ukraine schools in project

ELLSWORTH — By fueling a donation effort to bring school supplies to Ukraine, high school students in the Hearts and Minds group are trying to bring some hope to children in need.

At Ellsworth High School, Melinda Casper, special education coordinator and family engagement coordinator in the Ellsworth Community School District, said their student group has been around for quite some time.

“One of our teachers — my husband who has since retired — is in the military,” she said. “On his deployments, he would utilize or take the opportunity to conduct humanitarian missions and he would connect back with the school and organize with Anne Pechacek… fundraising efforts to bring school supplies to wherever Ryan (Casper) was.”

Through that connection last year, Casper said they were able to do a project for the Afghan refugees who came into Fort McCoy.

This year, she said that there is a direct connection through her to two schools in Ukraine just outside of Kyiv: a primary school with students ages three to six, and an intermediate school which has students ages six to 17.

In their project, the students have begun to collect school supplies and comfort items from themselves and from the community that they will try to send overseas before the start of next school year.

“We want to be able to help them,” said Piper VanNocker, a student in the project. “It’s things they need, because shelves are bare and they can’t necessarily get all the items that they need.”

As the war in Ukraine continues on, Casper said sometimes the school is forced into shelters where they have to carry on their instruction there.

“Knowing that we live in a different situation and we’re coming from a place where we are privileged to be safe and not in fear of people bombing our school or raiding it,” said Axel Simonson, another student in the project. “It’s nice to be able to help people that are in worse situations than us.”

Another student, Andrea Esterby, said her mother believes that every school should be a place of safety. In being able to send things over, it feels good just to know that something is being done about the difficulties that the students in Ukraine are facing.

A total of 17 students continue to collect items which would benefit students in the schools overseas and reach out to the community for help. One idea the students have is to reach out to other schools in their area and see if there is interest in helping pursue a similar project.

With all the work that the students are accomplishing, Casper said she has been really impressed by the passion and ideas that students bring to the group.

“They are very caring and they are very interested in impacting the experience of others from distances that go beyond just our senses,” said Casper. “They have got big hearts, and I am super impressed.”

For more information on the Ellsworth Ukraine Project, visit their Facebook page or Instagram. On their Instagram page, a link to their Amazon Wish List is also available to help contribute to their project.