Fitness Trainer Organizes Toy Drive For Ukrainian Orphans

A fitness trainer at a Gravesend gym has organized a toy drive for Ukrainian children who have lost their parents due to the war between the central government in Kiev and the Russian-speaking separatists in the East.

Dmitry Michin, 29, started the toy drive eight days ago at the Retro Fitness gym located at McDonald Avenue and Avenue Y.  Since it began, the effort has collected between five and six boxes full of footballs, baseballs, stuffed animals, notebooks, and school supplies, said Michin,

The children who receive the gifts will send pictures back to the donors, which Michin hopes to make into a collage and post in the gym.

“Those pictures would mean so much to me,” said Michin. “Putting a smile on someone’s face is the biggest reward there is.”

Michin got the idea from his gym client Oksana Lytvyn, a project manager at the non-profit Razom, who encouraged him to take part in Razom’s toy drive campaign, which is collecting donations throughout the Northeast. Lytvyn said the organization has sent 600 packages to needy Ukrainian families during the last year.

The donations given to Michin will likely go to orphans who have fled to western Ukraine in order to escape the turmoil in the East, Lytvyn said.

Michin has a connection to Ukraine. In 1989, when he was 3 years old, his family immigrated from Ukraine to Brooklyn after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, Michin said he started the toy drive to help those in need and would have done the same thing if Lytvyn’s organization was sending donations to any other place.

“I’m from Ukraine but I would do this if it were in Mexico or anywhere else,” said Michin. “It feels good to give to people who cannot repay you, just to put a smile on their face.”

Michin said this is the first time he’s participated in a charity effort, but he’s planning to do some food and clothing drives during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Both Michin and Lytvyn said they were eager to collect school supplies so that they could be sent to Ukrainian children before the school year begins.

Michin said he plans to keep the toy drive going for another two to four weeks and hopes to receive at least 20 boxes of donations by then. He is also trying to set up more locations to accept donations at nearby car washes, fitness centers, and daycares.

If you’d like to donate toys, school supplies, or clothes (on a case-by-case basis), you can drop them off at Retro Fitness, 325 Avenue Y; for more information or to contribute a monetary donation, contact Razom.