The unfolding events in Ukraine are having an impact on Brighton’s sister city, Ziebice, Poland.
Ziebiece’s population is about 9,000. But according to Jeff Platte, a spokesman for GoFundMe, the city has taken in some 180 Ukrainian refugees.“Local townspeople have donated time, talent and materials to improve the plumbing and electrical, procure donated beds and other furniture, and tend to the needs of the displaced people,” Heidi Storz, a Brighton Sister Cities member, wrote on GoFundMe. “Families in our sister city have opened their arms wide and unselfishly to help the foreigners in their midst, welcoming them as friends.”
A press statement said Brighton Sister Cities is using the GoFundMe platform to rally the community to support the Ziebice Jamine Society (its branch of Sister Cities) to “keep all our cultural and educational programs funded while also helping to meet the basic needs of the refugees.”