Nantucket Cares Gets To Work In Poland

The Nantucket Cares team began its aid mission in Poland yesterday, arriving at a refugee safe house in the village of Milocin. Fifty Ukrainian refugee children were being housed in a barn there, and the Nantucket Cares team began to distribute some of the goods - including stuffed animals and hand-written notes from Nantucket children - which had been donated or acquired with the funds the group has raised to date.

The aid mission being led by island resident Tom McCann has already raised more than $150,000 for Ukrainian refugees. McCann is joined by island residents Johnathan Rodriguez and Kasia Chmielewska Rodriguez, Chris Yates, Kit Noble, Jacquie Colgan, Brian McKernan and Yuliya Novak.

In the photo above, Chmielewska Rodriguez holds the portrait "Hungry Child" which hangs in the modest home the team visited in Milocin. As McKernan described on his Instagram page, the portrait belongs to the owner of the property and is "a reminder that life's work is about filling someone's empty cup with emotional support, food, and shelter. He told me that this painting is his guiding light for his life's work. This man is a saint."

From Milocin, the Nantucket Cares team visited the villages of Brusy and Osiek on Tuesday, before heading for Warsaw.

"For those of you who question the difference we can make as Americans...don't," McKernan said. "The hugs and smiles and tears we received upon our arrival following our message that 'America stands by you' was heart penetrating to say the very least."