UNION, NJ — When Union businessman Samuel Casternovia and his daughter, Samantha, heard reports of Ukrainian refugees fleeing to neighboring Poland with nothing but the clothing on their backs, they decided to do something about it.
“My father and I, we were watching the news, and we saw that a lot of people had gone there to Poland, and we figured that would be a good place to send things,” Samantha Casternovia said in an interview with Union County LocalSource on Monday, April 18.
“We’re business owners in Union and we’re collecting new children’s clothing, new children’s pajamas and new Teddy bears for refugees from Ukraine who are currently in Poland,” she continued.
Helping others is not something that’s new to Samuel Casternovia or his family. When they see people who are hungry or suffering, he said, they feel compelled to help.
“We do turkey baskets every year, but whenever there’s something special, we try to do something,” said Samantha Casternovia.
She said that in the 1980s, her father built a special trailer and he and her mother drove 500 pounds of pasta down to Mississippi after a flood. She also remembers a whole room full of stuffed animals to be donated in 2002 and 2003, when she was very young. “The stuffed animals were for children affected by a string of tornadoes out West.”
But this time, Samuel Casternovia said he felt a sense of urgency much greater than ever before, one he felt needed to be explained and resolved, one that started when he had first developed cancer.
“My first cancer was ulcerative colitis,” said Samuel Casternovia on Monday, April 18. “I survived it, but not until after years of research. I remember researching high incidences of ulcerative colitis and what struck me was that, after World War II, the children of European countries had an extremely high rate of ulcerative colitis and development of cancer from broken families and the trauma they suffered.
“Fast-forward to Ukrainian children,” he continued. “I thought it might make a small difference for a child in the midst of chaos to have new clothes or a new teddy bear to hug and keep safe. Maybe keeping their teddy bear safe will empower them to move through their situation.”
While certainly a noble goal, such an aspiration took effort as well. Samantha Casternovia decided to do a little research herself.
“I actually looked up other people who had made donations,” she said. “We’re doing this ourselves; we’re not working with other organizations. So I looked up people doing this, and I came across a church in Chicago which had shipped things to Poland, St. Bernadette Catholic Church in Evergreen Park, Ill., and I got in contact with them and they put me in touch with their pastor, Father Benedykt Pazdan. They had donated more than 600 boxes of everyday supplies to refugees from Ukraine who had come to Poland. I told him we were just looking for a place to send it, and he said he had grown up in Poland and he had a friend who is a pastor in Poland, so that really worked out for us.
“So he contacted his friend for me and I contacted him, and we’re in the early stages of collecting,” she continued. “We only started last week.”
The next step in the process was to gather as many supplies as possible, specifically children’s clothing, pajamas and teddy bears.
Samantha Casternovia said that her mother, Lynne Casternovia, is also helping with the effort.
“We had to find the churches in Poland which would accept them,” said Samantha Casternovia. “So we’re collecting the items, then we pay for boxing them up and shipping them to a church in Poland, where they can distribute them. Our goal is to fill a shipping container, one of the huge metal ones.
“We’re estimating two weeks, maybe by the end of the first week of May,” she added. “We’re hoping to have enough to package it up. If we don’t, we might have to extend it.”
The Casternovias began collecting supplies last week. Samantha Casternovia said she is hopeful it is the beginning of a great endeavor, but it will work only with a lot more donations from a lot more people.
“We already have some donations,” she said. “The main dropoff point is a warehouse behind 1603 U.S. Route 22 W. in Union. That’s where we’re gathering everything. You can drop stuff off there, Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. My dad and I are there.
“Right in front of the warehouse is LL Flooring, also known as Lumber Liquidators. They are also a dropoff point. They have the same address, 1603 Route 22. On weekdays, they are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and, on weekends, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and you can stop in at any time when they are open and they’ll hold onto it for us.”
“It gives people a place in their neighborhood to help,” said Samuel Casternovia.
People can also drop off new clothing, pajamas and teddy bears at the Casternovias’ business, Statement Barbershop, 1564 U.S. Route 22 E., Union. Meanwhile, the family is making efforts to collect donations throughout the township.
“We’re setting up dropoff boxes in other areas of Union, such as parks, doctor’s offices, schools, universities,” said Samantha Casternovia. “We just haven’t confirmed it yet.
“We’ve been reaching out to the local schools and other businesses,” she added.
Photo Courtesy of Samantha Casternovia