T-R PHOTO BY SUSANNA MEYER From left to right, Marshalltown Christian School students Libby Meyer, Van Cin, Yuritzy Cardenas, Ruth Hnen, Claire Meyer and Nora Bensema — the lone fifth grader in the group — and Bethany Talbert, their teacher. They set up a table at Hy-Vee on Tuesday afternoon to raise money for the Ukrainian people.

Inside Hy-Vee’s doors on Tuesday afternoon, amidst the hustle and bustle of shoppers coming and going, students from Marshalltown Christian School showed their support for those struggling in Ukraine by handing out tissue paper flowers and miniature flags in exchange for donations.

When the seventh and eighth graders learned about the Ukrainian struggle against Russia in their social studies class, they immediately knew they wanted to help in whatever way they could. They started planning a fundraiser to raise money for both the Red Cross in Ukraine and the Samaritans Purse — a Christian organization raising money for a Ukrainian relief fund.

Van Cin, one of the students helping with Tuesday’s fundraiser, said it all came together during a classroom conversation.

“We basically started this whole thing out by being in class one day, and we were just talking about the Ukraine crisis and we just randomly thought of doing a fundraiser, because we were trying to think of how we could help,” Cin said.

The students took a few days to make tissue paper roses in the signature blue and yellow of Ukraine, and they made small Ukrainian flags out of paper to give out to donors.

While the students knew they wanted to raise donations for the Samaritans Purse fund because they were familiar with the organization after the 2018 tornado, their teacher, Bethany Talbert, also suggested the Red Cross due to its notoriety.

Talbert said the concept of the Ukraine situation really hit home for students and made them want to take action.

“We have a lot of students that come from a lot of different places in the world in our school, and so some of them are really familiar. The whole plight of refugees is really important to them,” Talbert said. “We’ve had some personal experience sometimes with that, and they really wanted to do something to help. So it may be something small, but God can multiply that if he chooses.”

The team of six girls arrived at Hy-Vee at 3:45 p.m., and Talbert said after an hour, the second shift consisting of seventh and eighth grade boys would be taking over. The sentiment echoed by all was their hope to make a difference.

“We wanted to make a change in the world somehow and it’s just a small thing, but it can help somehow,” Cin said.

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Contact Susanna Meyer at 641-753-6611 or

smeyer@timesrepublican.com.