LEXINGTON, S.C. — A group of realtors in Lexington are trying to make a big difference for Ukrainian children.
They are sharing love and support by packing and collecting shoeboxes filled with gifts to send overseas.
"We all as affiliate locations, all came together from our local market and our local towns and bring this together. We collect them and ship them all back to our corporate office in California and from there they are organized and sent to Poland," said Wade Gilley, owner of Realty One Group Reside.
The corporate owner of the realty group is originally from Poland and his wife is Ukrainian.
These realtors and locals across the Midlands have been at it for several weeks now and have donated around 600 pounds of supplies so far. They have another 200 shoeboxes coming from a local church.
Everything from stuffed animals to blankets to snacks, socks and even hand written letters are packed inside.
"One lady had told me that 'Oh I have three grandchildren and one of these represents each of my three grandchildren because I can't imagine if they were in this situation, what it'd be like," Gilley said.
The owner said even though we're thousands of miles away here in South Carolina, we all need a little love and shelter from the storm.
"In our profession what our focus is is putting roofs over people's heads, so that is a big factor when people don't have that anymore," Gilley said.
Realty One Group Reside in Lexington will be accepting these cheer boxes for children in Ukraine until Thursday, March 24, 2022. However, this deadline could possibly be extended based on the response from the community.
You can drop off a shoebox at their office's grand opening between 5 and 9 p.m. or if you can't make that, you can donate anytime this week between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or if you can't make that you can donate to their outside box.
Their address is 5300 Sunset Blvd Suite B, Lexington, SC 29072.