Sierra Pape was sitting near a train station during a spring break trip when her phone lit up with a news alert.
The 14-year-old freshman at Atlanta’s Midtown High School had been following the war in Ukraine. The news story jarred her: A missile attack had killed more than 50 people at a crowded Ukrainian train station.
“That was just a big moment for me,” Sierra said of the April 8 attack. “It made me realize how vulnerable the people in Ukraine truly are.”
She wanted to do something to honor the victims and show support for the refugees. A group of friends and fellow Midtown students were eager to help.
At 3 p.m. Sunday, the teens will hold a tribute event at the Midtown MARTA station on 10th Street, just a mile west of their high school. All are welcome.
The students set out bins in their high school hallways and a nearby bakery with the goal of collecting 148 pairs of shoes from classmates, neighbors, dance studios and churches.
The shoes will be displayed in the Atlanta train station to symbolize each Ukrainian killed or wounded in the attack. Afterward, the footwear will be donated to a charity that will give them to needy men, women and children in Atlanta.
School orchestra members will play the “State Anthem of Ukraine.” They’ll hold a moment of silence, and speakers will talk about relief efforts and ways to support the people of Ukraine. A Midtown High School sophomore who was born in the Ukraine also will speak.
“As students, we don’t really know how to help in situations like this directly,” Sierra said. “The hope for this is that it gives an avenue for people our age to get involved in this issue.”
MARTA spokeswoman Stephany Fisher said the transit agency is pleased to be working with the students.
Charlotte Keenan, a 15-year-old Midtown High School freshman, is Sierra’s debate partner and a member of the committee organizing the event. As part of their work on the debate team, she and Sierra researched the threat Russia posed and NATO’s role in the region.
The images and stories from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hit home.
“It’s just crazy to think that something could happen in something so normal or something so pedestrian as a train station,” Charlotte said. “I know a lot of students have come up to me and said they weren’t aware of the missile hitting the train station before we started raising awareness.”
She hopes the shoes will remind people of the individual toll of war.
“We probably won’t get two pairs of the exact same. Every single person who was at that train station was different,” Charlotte said.
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