nonprofit is working to bring joy to kids in Ukraine who've been impacted by the trauma of war in May the organization hugs from Friends plans to pack up a huge shipment of Beanie Babies and artwork to give to Ukrainian children yeah they're also asking for donations from the community and some local elementary students are leading this effort five news reporter Morgan Wrigley spoke with organizers about the impact it's had on kids in Ukraine and here at home good morning Morgan Good morning Joe
and Tiffany well hugs from friends is calling this project 1,000 hugs it all started when one generous Community member donated a large collection of Beanie Babies to the nonprofit they then made it their mission to collect 1,000 of them along with 1,000 pieces of artwork to be delivered to kids in Ukraine local elementary school kids are helping and they ask that the community does too Bentonville nonprofit hugs from Friends Works year round to support families and kids affected by war in Ukra
ine partnering with Ukrainian nonprofit voices of children they see about a thousand children on an ongoing basis at their centers and and throughout their their programs uh routinely in Ukraine they they're all over the country and right now hugs from friends is working to give back in a special way we're going to send a thousand beanie babies and a thousand pieces of art to the children that are going through their uh program the nonprofit is asking the community to pitch in by donating beanie
babies and making artwork to be shipped to Ukraine students at Arkansas Arts Academy are leading the efforts by riding cards making art and showing their support it really creates a kid toid Exchange program essentially uh between the kids of uh Northwest Arkansas and the kids of Ukraine something fifth grade social studies teacher Joseph papania has seen the impact of firsthand as his class participates they're up to speed watching Trevor's videos and what's going on in the Ukraine and they th
ey're making these cards you know wishing you well wishing you luck and they're making it in the Ukraine and they especially love going to Google translator and to translate what they're saying into Ukraine hugs from Friends co-founder Trevor danne says this is a powerful two-way exchange of solidarity and support we started because we wanted to send artwork to impact kids in Ukraine right and I think one of the things that we didn't realize when we started this was the impact that it has on kid
s in the United States that create the artwork they feel like they're empowered and involved in helping a child a long way away right that are going through horrible situations life-changing situations that they cannot imagine that they're helping them put a smile on their face and that they really feel like this is a way that they can get involved and show support to uh children that are going through a horrible situation you can find all the information about how to donate Beanie Babies artwor
k and funds for shipping at hugs from friends.org and again the plan is to ship all of that out in May we were over here looking at the the most the rarest and the most expensive beanie babies in the world like maybe they find one of those right yeah what are the results okay so the first one is this uh Chef rukan beanie he's like a a French chef he was most rare most rare okay about he going for about $8 to1 122,000 and then the red Beanie Baby with the number one on it on its chest that one he
's number two and he's like six six grand wow look at that well the person that donated those I think is kind of a collector so I wouldn't be surprised if they have some of those rare ones collector though they kept some of the big ones right like you would D I've got some friends that they've kept those years yeah and it was a lot of parents back then that said I'll put these away for you for the kids yeah for sure
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