A Kewaunee County woman is preparing for her first volunteer trip abroad since the pandemic began.
"I just want to do what I can," said Joanne Lazansky, who is set to volunteer this fall in Europe to help Ukranian refugees.
She signed up through a non-profit and plans to teach English at schools in Poland attended by Ukranian children.
"If I can be working with any of these kids and make their day a little easier and maybe bring some hope in their life, that's what it's about for me," said Lazansky, who is a Kewaunee County Board member.
Lazansky has made volunteer trips before, including to Guatemala.
She said pandemic restrictions in that country and the safety situation kept her from returning.
Such restrictions have stalled the return of mission trips facilitated by the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of Green Bay.
Before the pandemic, the foundation facilitated between six and eight mission trips per year to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, said Cindy St. Aubin, the world mission director at the foundation.
Since the pandemic began, those trips have not resumed.
"The people want to go back, they want to help," St. Aubin said.
"They can't, it's just not possible because of the restrictions that are still in place for COVID."
There is no real timeline for the return of those trips.
Lazansky's trip through a separate non-profit is not a mission trip.
"...I can't change the world, but I can change one person's life, one day," Lazansky said.
