Dallas

School Donates $13K for Humanitarian Aid, Welcomes New Student From Ukraine

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Amid a sea of blue and gold-clad students gathered for an all-school mass, there is one new family St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas welcomed Friday.

Tatyana Neuner said her sister Olena Reviuk and her nephew Alan, the school’s newest eighth-grader, arrived in North Texas this week after leaving their home near Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

“She feels that the whole world is behind them,” Neuner said translating for her sister. “She’s grateful to St. Rita for stepping up and showing the love they have.”

And that love was on full display Friday in the form of symbolic support through ribbons, clothing and concrete support through direct aid.

Amid a sea of blue and gold-clad students gathered for an all-school mass, there is one new family St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas welcomed Friday.

Agnes Denvir started fundraising hours after Russia invaded six weeks ago. The Saint Rita teacher said she was overwhelmed Friday when her students and their families donated $13,000 to Catholic Relief Services.

“The help is needed, it’s still needed,” Denvir said. “We need to get food in the shelters, we need help to the wounded, it doesn’t stop.”

Ana-Maria Rios, a Saint Rita student, added it is difficult to truly understand how those living in – and forced to flee – Ukraine feel right now.

“We’re all human, whether we understand the feeling or not, we have to help,” Rios said.

CRS said all of it helps. The international arm of Catholic Charities already has teams on the ground in Poland and Ukraine to provide humanitarian aid for families forced to leave their homes so far.

Reviuk said her husband is still home in Ukraine, helping in that aid supply chain but added she feels fortunate for her son to start at a new school and have her sister here too, who has lived in North Texas for more than two decades

“To feel and to see this in America that somebody cares about us, that we are not alone, this is tremendous,” her sister said translating.

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