We're Teaming Up with WPE to Aid Ukraine Refugees

The Meher Schools is partnering with White Pony Express (WPE) to collect medications and non-perishable food to aid the more than two million civilians who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. The United Nations estimates the refugee figure could reach as high as four million.

WPE will ship donated items to trusted organizations serving the refugees streaming into Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and other neighboring countries.

WPE Executive Director (and Meher School mother) Eve Birge says, “Our work is to give all we can, in all the ways we can, to all the people we can. With the support of our community, we can provide essential items for our friends from Ukraine who are in desperate need. There is enough abundance in our county to make a significant contribution to this effort.”

We’ll be collecting first aid supplies at school. (See below for information about donating food.) WPE also needs many volunteers to help with various aspects of the campaign. See below for details.

What We’re Collecting at School

Please leave donations outside the co-principals’ office, which is off the admin parking lot. (Please park in the lower lot or on the street.)

Medical Kits

WPE will be providing medical kits consisting of these items. It’s okay to donate parts of a kit. WPE will assemble kits from individually donated items.

• 4 large and extra-large vinyl gloves

• 2 extra-large surgical dressings or maxi-pads

• 4 butterfly closures or sterile strips

• 6 heavy-duty Band-Aids

• 3 large 4-x-4-inch gauze pads

• 1 tube or a couple of packets of triple-antibiotic ointment

• 1 self-adhering bandage (like Coban wrap) or elastic bandage wrap (like ace wrap)

• 1 cotton bandage roll or gauze roll
  

First Aid Supplies

Pain: Advil, Aleve, Tylenol, Arnica (topical), Excedrin (tension headache), Bayer Headache

Allergies/hay fever: Zyrtec, Allegra, Claritin, Benadryl

Flu-like symptoms: Oscillococcinum, Sudafed

Rash, burns, cuts, and scrapes: Cortisone-10, Desitin (diaper rash), antibiotic ointment, Polysporin ointment, Antiseptic Skin Cleanser (CVS)

Diarrhea: Immodium or generic loperamide, Pepto Bismol (liquid or pills)

Constipation: Dulcolax tablets, Dulcolax suppositories, stool softener, generic Lactulose, magnesium citrate

Nausea/heartburn: Dramamine, Nexium 24-Hour OTC, Pepcid OTC, Rolaids, Mylanta, Prilosec OTC

Wound dressing/injury: Large sterile pads, elastic wraps for sprained ankles, Steri-Strips, zinc wound wash, gauze pads (small and large), gauze bandage rolls, ace ankle bandages, Bite & Sting Relief Wipes (CVS), alcohol wipes

* * *

Food Donations

Nonperishable food donations can be dropped off at WPE’s distribution center in Pleasant Hill, 3380 Vincent Rd #107, seven days a week, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary.

Volunteers Needed

WPE will welcome new volunteers to help host food and clothing drives, work to raise funds to purchase boxes and pay for shipping, and help sort, package, and label boxes. Eve Birge notes, “At WPE, the loving way our volunteers handle, pack, and deliver items is vitally important, as it conveys our respect and love for those we serve. If ever there was a time for these refugees to feel loved, respected, and cared for, it is now.”

To volunteer, visit the WPE website (https://www.whiteponyexpress.org/volunteer) or email volunteer@whiteponyexpress.org.

Changing Unwanted Behavior

Why would you do that? What were you thinking? What did I just tell you? Are you trying to upset me? How many times do I have to tell you? What’s going on in your head? Would it ever occur to you to help me? Is that what you’re wearing? How can you be so irresponsible? What’s the matter with you?

Try asking yourself these questions. Do you feel like answering or defending yourself? Historically, questions like these have been considered a good way to grab another person’s attention, at any age, and get them to stop doing whatever we find objectionable. It’s hard not to burst out with feeling when we see upsetting behavior. However, you may remember from your childhood that queries like these, no matter how forcefully expressed, don’t change our hearts or our desire to continue what we’re doing. They are referred to in psychology as a harsh start-up.

Luckily, we have psychologists who have shown us a more productive way to inspire children to listen and change course. Child psychologist Dr. Haim Ginott, author of Between Parent and Child, urges people ease into tricky interactions with a statement of understanding. (“I see you’re having fun, but we need to leave in five minutes.”)

In How to Talk So Children Will Listen and Listen So Children Will Talk, Ginott’s students Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish offer effective techniques to connect meaningfully with children and change unwanted behavior. They suggest saying what we see. (“I see clothes on the floor” rather than “Why haven’t you cleaned up your room all week?”)

In Transforming the Difficult Child, psychotherapist Howard Glasser suggests giving intensity to the positive rather than misbehavior and setting limits by simply saying “Reset!” in a way that doesn’t provoke defensiveness.

The common theme in all these resources is helping us remember that the key to good communication is going around a person’s defenses, preserving their self-respect, and finding a way to maintain loving connection.

Take Time to Be Silly

SEVERAL SECONDS OF SILLINESS can transform a difficult moment with a child, and taking time for humor helps us all remember to try to approach life lightly, to worry less.

Laughing releases dopamine in the brain and has been shown to improve our immune systems. It helps us put upsetting situations into manageable perspective. Witness the countless jokes online about trying to balance working at home while caring for children during a pandemic. Non-sarcastic humor also strengthens our relationships. When we laugh with someone, tension is released and our energies unite. Laughing is also a way to make children feel instantly safe and secure.

One day I walked a new child into a large, busy preschool class. Instead of the boy introducing himself to a little girl, the teacher placed a paper plate on his head and said, “This isn’t a plate, it’s a hat.” The child was still holding my hand but immediately giggled and relaxed. An adult who can act silly sends the message “I am safe and available to you.”

When we are tired of reminding a child to do something, we can transform the way we communicate. Try singing the message instead of saying it – “Time to get dressed” – rather than saying it, or explore using a weird voice. Wear a funny hat or glasses when delivering a serious message like “No TV until your room is cleaned up.” Create funny signs, like a note next to a hamster that says, “Please feed me, I’m hungry.”

When tension is mounting because child wants something they can’t have, rather than repeating all the reasons it won’t work, join with their desire by granting the wish in a funny fantasy. “I wish you could have ice cream right now. I wish you could eat a whole mountain of ice cream with chocolate sauce on top.”

Jokes awaken convivial feeling, and they teach intellectual acuity. Even young children can learn knock-knock jokes: “Knock, Knock.” “Who’s there?” “Dwayne.” “Dwayne who?” “Dwayne the bathtub.”

Collect jokes you can tell to connect with children while driving in the car or at dinner time. “What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?” “A stick.”

When we focus on finding something to laugh about during our busy everyday events, we actually create a new kind of space in our lives. Humorous moments are little oases of refuge, and when visited regularly, they nurture joy.