The horrifying pictures emerging from the Russian invasion of Ukraine inspired 300 students from Hershorin Schiff Community Day School (CDS) to act. Dan Ceaser, Community Day’s head of school, said that the crisis quickly became an urgent topic of discussion throughout the campus. After meeting with Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz with Chabad Lubavitch of Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the students decided to donate all the “tzedakah,” or charitable funds they had raised, to an orphanage based out of Odessa, Ukraine.

During the school year, students collect money every Shabbat (Friday) and typicall pick a cause at the end of the year and donate the money. On March 8, the students presented $520 to the Mishpacha Orphanage. The funds will be used for food, shelter, and other necessities for 83 orphans who fled Ukraine to Germany. CDS students said they hope the funds and handmade cards will let the refugee children know that people from across the world are watching their plight.