Students from Assumption Catholic School (ACS) in Perth Amboy, New Jersey give back and have impacted the lives of children in Ukraine. For the second year in a row, the 8th grade class, in cooperation with the Carteret Youth Chapter of the Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM), have collected items of warm clothing, school supplies, sweets and toys packaged in backpacks to be distributed to children of parents who are currently engaged in military action or have given their lives in Eastern Ukraine or who have been displaced from their homes as a result of the fighting.  This initiative, known as Warming Warm Heart, was initiated by the world executive board of CYM, and is now in its fourth year of action. Last year, the U.S. CYM chapters coordinated efforts for this action to collect 1,041 backpacks, which was viewed as very successful. This year, the goal of collecting 1,235 backpacks has been reached and will be sent to these children in time for the Feast Day of St. Nicholas and the beginning of the Christmas season.
The inclusion of ACS to this charitable action began with a query from Ms. Anna Lawrence, the music teacher at ACS, to a CYM social media campaign of this initiative. After initial inquiries, ASC students and staff members became interested in contributing to this campaign. “It would have never occurred to me that we’d ask a grade school to be involved with such a campaign. But when members of ACS learned about what we were doing and inquired about how it could help, it revealed itself as being a perfect fit. We are very fortunate to include these amazing students in these actions.” recounted Roman Wernyj, Youth Program Director of Carteret CYM. This year, the 8th grade class, under the direction of their teacher Mrs. Mary Beth Pickering and new principal Mrs. Lissette Shumny, brought in various items to snuggly fills 16 backpacks, which accounts for over 60% of the materials collected by Carteret CYM. Fr. Ivan Turyk, the pastor of Assumption Catholic church, who supervises the activities at ACS, noted, “This is a group of caring young men and women who don’t only study but also practice their faith. They and the entire ACS are always eager to reach out and help the less fortunate either here in this country or overseas.” Overall, over 200 lbs. of material was shipped to Ukraine on October 31, 2017 to children in the area of Kalush in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast in Ukraine.