'They even sent skis': Donations pile up at Poland-Ukraine border
Deb Parry, who is currently leading Save the Children’s team in Poland, told ABC News she has never seen anything like the outpouring of help on the Polish border.
“I’ve worked for Save the Children for 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s a phenomenal amount of aid being sent. Everything these families could possibly need.”
“They even sent skis!” she exclaimed.
![](https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/skis-poland-ho-mo-20220304_1646446681466_hpEmbed_4x3_992.jpg)
The donations are piling up all over Poland and being dropped near the crossings and reception centers throughout the country. Piles of skis and snowboards were stacked up at Dolhobyczow, a village near the Ukraine border.
“I’m not sure why people think they need skis,” Parry said.
Because of this effort by local communities, Save the Children can focus on things other than the distribution of necessities. More than 700,000 refugees have streamed across the Poland border since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 -- almost all of whom are women and children.
Save the Children is helping parents talk to their children about war. They have teamed up with the telecom companies providing SIM cards and hand out leaflets with information for how best to cope in these trying conditions.
“It’s important to keep children in some sort of a routine,” Parry explained, adding that parents or caretakers need to be careful about what they expose children to.
“Don’t have the news on all the time,” she said.
-ABC News' Zoe Magee and Chris Donato