The Serb National Council and the Split-based organization VeDRA (Homeland War Veterans and Antifascists) delivered humanitarian aid to Banija on Saturday, January 23, as a part of the humanitarian drive “Banija is our house”. Croatian Army Generals, Luka Dzanko and Veselko Gabricevic, and the president of VeDRA, Ranko Britvic, delivered construction materials to family Prisic in the village Veliki Susnjar near Petrinja. Agricultural facilities owned by family Prisic have sustained great damage in the earthquake, which in turn seriously jeopardized their livelihood since cattle raising and pig farming are the core business of their family farm.
Activists from the Serb National Council and the parson of the orthodox church in Petrinja Sasa Umicevic direct aid and detect families in need by touring the area daily. That is precisely how they found family Prisic, which includes three children, and is currently getting by thanks to donations. In today’s action members of VeDRA were welcomed by the parson of the orthodox church in Petrinja, Sasa Umicevic and Milijana Nozinic, the coordinator of SNC’s humanitarian activities in the Petrinja area.
One of the key locations in the humanitarian drive “Banija is our house” must be the central warehouse for donations in Virginmost. Jelena Nestorovic, SNC’s volunteer coordinator in the field, and Tatjana Dragicevic, the head of the Department for Humanitarian and Social Issues, stated that the coordination directs all aid provided by donors from Croatia and neighboring countries to the warehouse in Virginmost and that all data about the donations will be centralized and linked to the central office of the Serb National Council in Zagreb. Jelena Nestorovic pointed out that the warehouse in Vriginmost also has capacity to store food, which will be handed out to citizens of Banija in the upcoming months of reconstruction.
.