A local thrift store recently participated in a global humanitarian crisis.

Tanner Lovett, son of Koni Lovett and Captain with the Illinois Air National Guard, indicated Friday on the WHOW Morning Show that Illinois has a partnership with Poland and recently has been sending the Guard to assist in Poland with the Ukrainian refugee crisis. On his last trip, he was inspired to take donations from his mother's thrift store, Love It Once More, with him.

In addition to the clothes, Captain Lovett also brought a suitcase full of toys for the Ukrainian children. Koni said that the toys she donated were small enough to fit in a child's pocket and would be easy to carry.

Tanner was able to hand-deliver the donations to the volunteers assisting the refugees. While he didn't get to see very many of the people who needed the clothes, he says as soon as we walked in the door there was a Ukrainian man who required a suitcase.

The trip to Poland was an eye-opening experience for Tanner and the other guardsmen. He says, unlike other refugee crises that he knew about from his history books, these are people up until recently who were living similar lives to what we live at home.

Koni notes that her current winter donations were sent with Tanner and she is calling for the community to help her store by donating winter clothes before next fall. She hopes their story inspires people to know that their donations helped people living on the other side of the world.