Parkersburg High School student group raising money for Ukrainian refugees
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PARKERSBURG -- The Parkersburg High School Diversity Student Union launched a three-week fundraiser to help Ukrainian refugees Monday.
They are working with USA for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the U.N.'s refugee agency, and funds collected will go to help Ukrainians fleeing from the invasion of their country by Russia.
"The students, they watch TV and look at social media and saw that they were like one huge community," said PHS senior Sheza Ikhlaq, a club member. "You have people going through the struggle and they need our help.
"We were all in agreement that we should do something, so we decided to start through this small step to give money and accept donations," she said.
Another club member, Maia Noland, said those who cannot make donations can help spread the word about what the organization is doing and look for more reliable sources so other people able to pay can do so.
A display is shown on the table that the PHS Diversity Student Union is using to promote its Ukrainian fundraising efforts. (Photo by Larry Launstein Jr.)
Ikhlaq also said the group was using social media to get the word out to the community outside PHS about their fundraiser.
Collections started Monday and will run until April 1 in the PHS cafeteria at lunch time, from 10:32 a.m. to 12:56 p.m. The PHS students will be on break the second week, but donations will still be accepted. Anyone can donate.
All donations will go to help the U.N. agency to assist Ukrainian refugees.
The group hopes to collect more than $1,000 to help the refugees.
Donations can be sent to PHS, Attn: Jordan Moore, 2101 Dudley Ave., Parkersburg, WV 26101. Checks should be made payable to PHS, with "Diversity Student Union" written in the memo.
Larry Launstein Jr. can be reached at llaunstein@newsandsentinel.com