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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (Mar. 28, 2006) – This Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31, Milligan College student, faculty and staff volunteers will pack tons of used clothing in containers to ship to the Ukraine. The clothing will be distributed through churches to Ukrainian orphans, widows and the disabled.
Milligan College, as part of the Junior Service Project coordinated through the college’s Institute for Servant Leadership (ISL), partnered with MASTER Provisions and area churches to collect clothing and shoes for indigent residents of the Ukraine. MASTER Provisions, a non-profit organization based in Walton, Ky., ministers to economically devastated countries through clothing and other benevolent ministries.
“Each year Milligan College juniors select a special project that challenges them to put their faith in action,” said Beth Anderson, director of ISL. “This year they collectively chose to do a clothing drive for the Ukraine.”
As a former Soviet Socialist Republic, the Ukraine, with a population of 47 million, has a very limited amount of clothing. Wages are low and unemployment is high, so new clothing is not affordable for the average Ukrainian.
“Some of the clothing collected will be given away to orphans, widows and the disabled through Ukraine churches. The rest will be sold at very low prices through Christian businesses overseen by local churches,” said Roger Babik, Milligan alumnus and director of MASTER Provisions. “Prices are set very low so that Ukrainians can afford the clothing and cover expenses such as overseas shipping, warehouse rental and customs duties.”
Local churches involved in collecting the clothing are Poplar Ridge Christian Church in Piney Flats; East Unaka Christian Church, Grandview Christian Church, Hopwood Christian Church, Grace Fellowship’s “The Well,” Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church, and East Pine Grove United Methodist Church in Johnson City; Boones Creek Christian Church in Boones Creek; Crossroads Christian Church in Gray; East River Park Christian Church and First Christian Church in Elizabethton; Central Christian Church in Jonesborough; First Christian Church in Kingsport; Colonial Heights Christian Church in Colonial Heights; and First Baptist Church in Pennington Gap, Va.
For more information on how you or your church can become involved in the clothing drive for the Ukraine, call 423.461.8316 or email rjpowell@milligan.edu.