BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – A group of women at a Tennessee assisted-living facility are helping to provide comfort to Ukrainian children who have had to flee their homes amid the ongoing Russian invasion of their country.
In a March 25 Facebook post, Morning Pointe Assisted Living & Memory Care in Brentwood said residents were making teddy bears for Brentwood Hills Church of Christ’s “Love Bears” program, which provides grieving children with handmade stuffed animals, “when a wonderful idea was brought forth – sending the bears over to Ukrainian refugees.”
>> Russia attacks Ukraine: 4M refugees have fled Ukraine, UN agency says
“Gifts like these help spread love and hope to those who are suffering, and Morning Pointe of Brentwood residents plan on making more bears each week to send to Ukraine,” the facility captioned snapshots of the women.
Morning Pointe resident Pat White told WZTV that “we can’t imagine” the challenges Ukrainian children have been facing since Russian troops invaded the country Feb. 24.
“I hope it will make them feel happy and secure to hold these at night,” added Morine Vaese, according to the TV station.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported Thursday that more than 4.1 million refugees have left Ukraine since the fighting began. More than 2.38 million – about 58% – of those people fled to neighboring Poland, the agency said.
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People who have fled the war in Ukraine gather outside a temporary refugee shelter that was formerly an abandoned TESCO supermarket after being transported from the Polish Ukrainian border on March 29, 2022, in Przemysl Poland.
Refugees wait in a queue, after fleeing the war from neighboring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
A soldier comforts Larysa Kolesnyk, 82, after being evacuated from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
Inna Lazareva (right) hugs her sister, Alina Koval, goodbye before boarding a bus to Poland from the main train station on March 29, 2022, in Lviv, Ukraine.
People who fled the war in Ukraine line up to pick goods inside the train station on March 29, 2022, in Krakow, Poland.
Marta, who fled the war in Ukraine, comforts one of her dogs as the other rests inside a pet backpack next to a child on March 29, 2022, in Krakow, Poland.
People prepare to make the journey to Poland by bus from the main train station on March 29, 2022, in Lviv, Ukraine.
Ukrainian refugee children from the city of Buchach volunteer at Ukrainian Cultural Centre Dnipro sorting out humanitarian aid for compatriots in the UK and Ukraine on March 29, 2022, in Manchester, England.
Residents line up to collect food aid at a humanitarian aid station on March 29, 2022, in Trostyanets, Ukraine.
People who fled the war in Ukraine arrive by bus on March 29, 2022, in Krakow, Poland.
