What do you do when you can’t stop watching the painful stories of millions of Ukrainians fleeing their homes, cities, and country? If you’re the force of nature with a can-do attitude named Valaree Dickerson, you get on Facebook and mobilize your local, and global, contacts into a community all hands-on-deck humanitarian relief effort. And you connect all the dots of a complicated puzzle in just one week’s time. 

From start to finish, Valaree says she had no concerns that Poolesville would sit this crisis out. Ours is a community whose generosity has been tested in the past. Many answered the rallying cry when Valaree, Cathy Bupp, and others organized relief for flood victims in White Sulphur Spring WV in 2016, or the time before that when they drove truckloads of donations to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 

While those weather events were destructive and disrupted many lives, helping this time posed global challenges involving crossing an ocean to another continent and overcoming hurdles the former Poolesville Commissioner had never encountered. Could this one be a metaphorical bridge too far? 

Early on pieces fell into place. At the outset, Joy Hallfors of Anytime Fitness and Deb Lingle, graciously answered the request to provide retail space as a drop off site.  

The next challenge was how to decide which supplies to collect and who was equipped to receive them. The most pressing concern was to provide the greatest impact for the most people. Valaree took to social media searching for contacts in Poland. By the uncanniest twist of fate, a longtime family friend from her days in Annapolis, Mary McGinn Vickers, provided the answer she needed.  

Mary led Valaree to Tomasz, a pastor in Poland who was housing refugees from Ukraine. After contacting with him on What’s App, she was convinced he was the right person for the job and   only too ready to receive and distribute Poolesville’s collected bounty.  

After reviewing the vast needs, Valaree and Tomasz settled on a concise list of necessary non-medical supplies to be collected. The call went out for simple dry foods needing only hot water, children’s underwear, and kid size fleece blankets. Valaree, herself a grandmother of three, recalls the haunting images of children sleeping on floors, four sharing one blanket.  

The far-reaching outpouring of support surprised even this intrepid organizer. Donations and volunteers alike flooded the collection site. Poolesville Commissioner Jim Brown asked Chuck Kuhn, owner of both JK Moving, and White’s Ferry,  for boxes to pack up the supplies. The answer was, “you can have 100 or 1,000 whatever you need”. Good thing, they generously offered the larger number. Support for the effort has been nonstop since the boxes were picked up by Poolesville Commissioner Jeffery Eck and the Upper Montgomery Volunteer Fire Department and dropped off at the extension warehouse next to Anytime Fitness.  

Valaree noted the personal donations seniors in the area made to this effort. Many hand-carried their contributions to Valaree directly. One 85-year-old woman who no longer drives walked across town to make her donation.  

At the time of this writing, 2,000 pounds of goods have been packed into those boxes, holding up to 30 lbs. each. They were packed, taped, and shrink wrapped onto pallets, which were donated by John Speelman and Poolesville Hardware. They are expected to be on their way this week.  

Ah, but there was still the looming logistical question of how they were all supposed to get from here to there. And where exactly is there? Once again, a plea through Valaree’s wide circle of friends netted the answer. Rich and Michaela Huelbig’s contacts unlocked a key piece of the puzzle. In an incredibly generous move, William and Eugenia Chester of the Paul Chester Children’s Foundation offered to take care of the shipping “whether it was 1,000 or 10,000 pounds”, for all those prepared pallets through an international shipping port in New Jersey. 

And if this story has not been remarkable enough, Pastor Tomasz’ friend Oleg, and his shipping company TRT International, assured Valaree that the expected total 6,000 pounds of boxes, with their ‘Straight Outta Poolesville” message and stylized Ukrainian flag stickers of blue and yellow daisies, would be delivered to Ukrainian refugees in need. 

To see so many who shared her feelings and wanted to take some action to counteract the devastation in Ukraine has meant so much to Valaree. In just one week’s time, to be able to galvanize such an impressive showing of far-reaching support by our little community is mind boggling.  

When this effort is over, Valaree will continue this year’s promise to herself to check items off her list of 59 things to do in her 59th year. Her plan is to create more happy memories that she can reflect on with joy, and yes, at times, pride too.  

 We, at Poolesville Seniors, are so pleased that Valaree Dickerson gave us such an important reason to smile and feel pride during this challenging time while reminding us why we all love our community.