Two organizations, Games & Comics for Ukraine and ComicsBooks for Kids!, are teaming to gather donations of games and comics to send to children, soldiers, and English students in Ukraine. English is one of Ukraine’s official languages. The organization is seeking donations of surplus inventory of games and comics from U.S. retailers, publishers, and distributors.

Donated games and comics will be transported to Ukraine by New Jersey-based Ukrainian-American shipping company Meest-America, and distributed to children in bomb shelters and hospitals, soldiers rehabilitating from wounds, English language students, classrooms, and libraries.  The donated materials are intended to fill the “critical need for reading material, positive distraction, entertainment and any item that can support literacy,” the organization said. Once in western Ukraine, donated materials will be sorted out to specific destinations.

The project was spearheaded by Games & Comics for Ukraine, a new organization founded by David Wheeler of Dragon’s Lair (see “Business 3x3: David Wheeler”) and David Dodson. Wheeler reached out to ComicBooks for Kids!, a 501(3)c that distributes comics to kids in hospitals and to troops, as a charitable partner for the effort. ComicBooks for Kids! distributes comics to children in hospitals and cancer centers worldwide, and its sister organization, ComicBooks For Troops, does the same for members of the military (see “ComicBooks for Kids! Announces Affiliate Program”).

The organizations are requesting that companies ship the inventory (at their own expense) to Meest-America; ComicBooks for Kids! will document the donations for tax purposes. For information on shipping donations of games and comics for Ukraine as a charitable contribution, click here.