A large load of supplies will soon be on its way to Ukraine after being packed up and loaded in Montebello.

Vests, helmets and other military gear were donated by local police departments or purchased with the help of private donations.

Organizers of an airlift say the personal protective gear came from a dozen different states.

Zaven Kechichian, one of the organizers of the effort, said it was a “large team effort with lots of collaboration.” He said the decision to send the equipment felt like a moral obligation.

“We are very passionate about this. We first-hand heard from people that know people who were injured or are related to people who were injured,” Kechichian said. “It’s a life or death matter.”

They’ll be chartering a plane from the San Bernardino Airport to ship the items to Warsaw, Poland before it makes its way to war-torn Ukraine. They hope it’s the first of many shipments to help Ukrainians inside and outside the country.

“We have a lot of military personnel with insufficient equipment and we believe that every day matters and every day we can save lives,” Kechichian said.