Ukrainian Aid - Monies, Medical Supplies-Medicine

Looking for a direct and safe way to provide Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine?  You’re in the right place.  

Please consider a financial donation of any size.  This Go Fund Me page serves as a platform to financially help with Humanitarian Aid for Ukraine.

Monies raised here will purchase harder-to-acquire Medical Supplies (help us purchase 500 surgical kits), Medicines, and also help offset costs of shipping these items.  

The amazing part of this fundraising and Drop Off Event is the items are being shipped through a Downers Grove-based Ukrainian-owned company through his family network to Ukraine.  Items are being dispersed exactly where they're needed and are not sitting idle in a warehouse.

Forbes Magazine named Downers Grove, IL one of the Top 10 Friendliest Towns in America. Let’s show the citizens of Ukraine how friendly we can be. 

Would you rather physically donate items?

Village of Downers Grove residents, non-profit organizations, the District 58 school system, and local businesses are participating in a special community-wide Ukrainian Aid Medical Supplies and Medicine Drop-off Event on Saturday, May 14 from 5-7 p.m. in the parking spots of 5122-5128 Main St., Downers Grove (adjacent to Wasabi). 

A box truck and tent will be onsite to collect donations.  A photo booth donated by Matt Lodding will be onsite to help document your donation.  The drop-off event will conclude with remarks from Downers Grove Mayor Bob Barnett at 7PM when he’ll stand with the Ukrainian business owner to view the items donated.  Live music at Wasabi will then start at 7:15PM starting with Briley, Village Council Member Chris Gilmartin, and the band Left of Center.  Throughout the afternoon and evening, many downtown Downers Grove businesses will have special drink, food and retail discount options associated with the event.

What donations are being collected?

 All medical supplies and medicines, but especially:

     •  Bandages, tourniquets, slings, braces; 
     •  Surgical medical kits; 
     •  Burn creams & pads, wound care, hydrocortisone, eye wash; 
     •  First aid kits, gauze, elastic wraps; 
     •  Disposable gloves, alcohol wipes; 
     •  Bar soap (no liquid), antiseptic wipes; 
     •  Insulin, glucose, lidocaine; and 
     •  Aspirin, pain killers, Benadryl, Pepto-Bismol pills, Cold/Flu pills

Background and how will these donations get to Ukraine?

Everyone we speak with continues to be saddened by what’s happening to the citizens of Ukraine as they defend their Democracy against the continued Russian invasion.  Every day is a new day of horrific destruction to property and citizens.  And from our inside contacts there, it’s infinitely worse than what’s already being portrayed on the news.

All items are being collected and shipped through Precision Circuits, a Downers Grove-based and Ukrainian-owned company.  Precision Circuits has family in Ukraine, and they are working directly with the Polish and Ukrainian embassies, as well as a Ukrainian-owned air carrier, to efficiently and directly ship all items to family in Warsaw, Poland, and from there, the items are trucked into the heart of Ukraine to additional family members to be immediately put to use exactly where the items are needed that day. Items will never be sitting idle in a warehouse.  Precision Circuits has already shipped 30,000 tons of items, the equivalent of 5 semi-truck loads to Ukraine, and they are confident that all donations will arrive in Ukraine within 10 days.  

On April 26, 2022, Village of Downers Grove Mayor Bob Barnett, Village Council Member Rich Kulovany, The Education Foundation of Downers Grove District 58 President Janet Alikpala, Brain Freeze (Event Host) President Suzie Positano, and the Event Coordinator and Village resident Tom Schrode,r met the Precision Circuits CEO and key staff, toured their warehouse, asked questions, and viewed the several hundreds of donation boxes already collected that were being prepared for shipment.

If you’re one of those friends looking for a way to help, please help this cause with a financial donation of any amount.

Please share this information, hold your own Medical Supplies and Medicine drive, and bring the collected items to our Drop Off Event.  If you can’t make the Event, please contact me, and I will work with you to pick up your donated items.  We’ll take one item or multiple pallets.

Where can I donate these items?

While the May 14th Drop Off Event is the main place to make donations, many of the event’s sponsors and community partners are providing donation boxes in their businesses.  Please feel free to donate any of the above listed Medical Supplies and Medicines at the following homes and businesses, between now and May 14th:

     •  Downers Grove Park District – Recreation Center and Lincoln Center 
               - 4500 Belmont Road; 935 Maple Avenue

     •  Downtown Downers Grove Management Corporation 
               - 933A Curtiss Street

     •  Downers Grove YMCA-Sponsored Farmer's Market (May 14th 9AM-noon) 
               - Drop off circle - Train Station

     •  Ukrainian Aid Event Coordinator Tom Schroder’s Home
               - 4815 Forest Ave. (Front Porch Dropbox)

     •  Beil & Stromberg Insurance
               - 110 Curtiss Avenue  

     •  Charlie & Grace Children's Consignment
               - 937A Curtiss Street

     •  Christ Church Downers Butterfield
               - 2S361 Glen Park Road, Lombard
               - Front Entrance, M-F 9am-5pm, May 8th & 14th until noon

     •  Christ Church Oak Brook
               - 501 Oak Brook Road, Oak Brook
               - Foyer Inside Door 17, M-F 9am-5pm, May 8th & 14th until noon

     •  F45 Training Downers Grove
               - 151 W. Ogden Avenue

     •  Keller Williams Experience Realty
               - 5122A Main Street 

     •  Moose Lodge 1535 
               - 1030 Warren Avenue

     •  Oakley Home Builders 
               - 4912 Main Street

     •  Orange & Brew Bottle Shop
               - 1027 Burlington Avenue, DG

     •  Peak Running
               - 945 Burlington Avenue  

     •  Perspire Sauna Studio 
               - 640 Ogden Avenue, Unit D

     •  Rotary of Downers Grove 
               - 4620 Prince Street

     •  Spenga 
               - 5210 Main Street

     •  Wasabi Restaurant & Bar 
               - 5130 Maine Street

     •  Watts of Love 
               - 900 Warren Avenue

In addition to the above Bar Chido, Cadence Kitchen, Education Foundation of Downers Grove District 58, the Foxtail, Matthies Builders, and Pierce Tavern are also sponsoring the event.

The event’s fiscal sponsor is a not-for-profit Brain Cancer Foundation called Brain Freeze, Inc nfp.  Suzie Positano is its Founder and President.  The Foundation’s Board of Directors consists of individuals who all have family members who have passed away from various types of brain cancer.  They have pooled their resources to establish the Foundation to create and execute Events to provide aid locally as well as to Countries throughout the world.  The monies raised with this Go Fund Me page will be used to benefit the Ukrainian Aid Event discussed above.  The Event’s music will be provided by 1126 Entertainment, LLC.