Teens launch donation drive to help people suffering in Ukraine
By Katie Nielsen
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SAN RAMON, California (KPIX) — Two East Bay teens are doing what they can to help the people in war-torn Ukraine by launching a donation drive.
“We can’t just look at these people suffering and not do anything about it. It’s horrible to watch,” says Anirudh Tenneti.
He’s a junior at Doughtery Valley High School. He and his sister, Anika, a 7th grader at Gale Ranch Middle School, knew they had to do something when they saw video on the news of the conflict in Ukraine.
“Since we’re just kids it felt like really frustrating to think like ‘oh my gosh, we can’t donate anything. We can’t do anything.’ Until we came up with this idea,” says Anika.
The idea was the donation drive, asking members of the community to donate toiletries, food, clothes, and baby items.
“I felt like I had to do something, because I couldn’t just let this conflict go on and not do anything about it,” says Anirudh.
He convinced the principal at Dougherty Valley High to let them put donation bins inside the school and have partnered with San Jose based non-profit, Hearts for Ukraine, to get the donations packed and shipped overseas.
“No matter what we can get donated, it’s going to help significantly,” says Anirudh.
More than anything, they say they want people to be aware of what’s happening in Ukraine and try to help.
“You doubt yourself. Like, how am I going to do something about this whole country, right? We want people to take a first step and take initiative,” says Anika.
They’re collecting the donations at their home and will drive the items to San Jose every two weeks to get them shipped to Ukraine.
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