“We’re all together, one big family, right? So I think we want to help those that need the help,” said Hartnell, a member of the Journey Disaster Response Team from Pleasant Prairie. “It’s just a great feeling to help people.”
‘Any way we can help’: Racine County hosts donation drive for Afghan refugees in Wisconsin
RACINE — It was Phil Hartnell’s first time volunteering on Saturday, and the cause he chose was the Racine County Veterans Service’s donation drive for Afghan refugees in Wisconsin on Saturday.
Hartnell was one of a few dozen volunteers at the drive, which was a partnership between RCVS, JDRT and Team Rubicon, a Marine-founded humanitarian organization. Amazon in Kenosha also donated a truck to help bring the donations to Fort McCoy. The drive called for donations of clothing, food, baby items and other necessities to bring to the refugees, who are currently at Fort McCoy following the overthrow of their country’s government.
As of Sept. 3, almost 9,000 refugees are at Fort McCoy; the base has a capacity of to host 13,000 people. Zdroik said he estimates refugees will stay at Fort McCoy — and other bases across the country — for three months at minimum.
Clothes on their backs
As cars pulled in with trunkloads of donations, Zach Zdroik, the county’s veterans service officer, shared the purpose of the drive.
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from veterans to ask how they can get back to the community,” Zdroik said. “As a veteran myself, I wanted to do it because with us leaving Afghanistan, a lot of veterans are dealing with it in a difficult way, right? It’s not easy for us, and I think this is a way we can continue to serve these families that we served over there.”
Fort McCoy, just east of La Crosse, is currently receiving “metric tons” of donations but is still in need of more clothing, especially as the winter months arrive. As of Tuesday, many Afghans at the base have still not received a new set of clothing, having only arrived with the clothes on their backs.
Zdroik said it’s important to raise awareness on the issues surrounding Afghanistan and Afghan refugees who are coming to America for safety. He cited World War II, when Japanese people were held at Fort McCoy — which was known as Camp McCoy at the time — as prisoners of war.
“We need to learn from this. We need to be on the right side of history to be able to help anyone that comes here, because that’s what Americans do,” he said.
County Executive Jonathan Delagrave said the county will continue to work on ways to contribute to Fort McCoy.
“I can only imagine what those refugees from Afghanistan are going through in potentially new surroundings. Are they with their loved ones? If they’re not, where are their loved ones?” he said. “So in terms of our ability to help … to give them some basic needed resources is important. Just any way we can help.”
Plans are still underway to host a second donation drive. In the mean time, RCVS is encouraging monetary donations to the Racine County Refugee Collection Drive via Paypal at bit.ly/3DZZbiW. For more information on future events supporting Afghan refugees, visit facebook.com/racinecountyveteransservices.
