St. Cloud State University’s Veterans Resource Center typically collects toys to distribute to military children who have parents from Central Minnesota deployed out-of-state and beyond. This year, the Veterans Resource Center shifted those efforts overseas while still giving back to children in need.
Last April during Month of the Military Child, the Veterans Resource Center began collecting toys to be sent overseas for Ukrainian children in refugee camps who had to leave everything behind due to the ongoing war in the country.
The St. Cloud State community came together to help support this initiative, donating a large number of new or gently used toys to send to refugee children. After the collection ended in April, the Veterans Resource Center worked with Fundacja New Story – an international refugee assistance organization that is providing assistance to children who fled with their families over to Poland – providing them with the toys donated by the campus community.
In August, the packages of toys arrived with the Ukrainian children to be distributed to children now living in refugee camps.
“It was a good partnership with St. Cloud State and New Story,” said Zac Mangas, Director of the Veterans Resource Center. “We are grateful for the support from the St. Cloud State community and that the toys made their way into the hands of the Ukrainian children.”
