How to send aid and support to Ukraine from Central Ohio

On Mar 6, 2022

Wearing blue and yellow and sunflower crowns, Greater Columbus residents showed their support for war-besieged Ukraine at a rally Saturday outside the busy Arnold Sports Festival at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

The event is one of many recent area demonstrations of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, said Marianna Klochko, president of the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio. She said Central Ohioans have transformed from not even knowing where Ukraine is on a map to attending rallies, gathering donations and expressing solidarity for the country in the wake of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion and assault on the democratic nation.

Tetyana Hubska, who has dual U.S.-Ukraine citizenship, cries while attending a rally in support of Ukraine Saturday outside of the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Hubska said she has family in Kyiv who have tried to evacuate, and her father has made it to the western part of Ukraine. “They don’t have a bomb shelter to go to,” said Hubksa. “The tanks are under the windows.”

“Central Ohio is much more involved, and we cannot stay indifferent and neutral anymore to what’s going on in Europe right now,” Klochko said. “It seems like that this overwhelmingly positive support from all over the world indicates that people are starting to realize that Ukraine is important.”

The Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio (UCAO) is a nonprofit organization begun in 1983 in Columbus to promote Ukrainian culture and provide humanitarian support to the Ukrainian people, according to the organization’s website. The group also organized the Feb. 26 rally at the Ohio Statehouse, which drew more than 200 people in bad weather to condemn the invasion and show solidarity with Ukraine.

Taking a stand against Putin from Downtown Columbus protest

On a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon, more than 75 people rallied at the Arnold Schwarzenegger statue outside the convention center, Downtown, amidst the Sports Festival to sing the Ukrainian national anthem, share stories of the bloodshed in Ukraine, and to harshly criticize Putin actions, comparing him to Adolf Hitler and warning of the threat that failing to stand up to such an invasion of a peaceful country can pose to the rest of the world.

”Whatever experiences we might have given up today, it’s nothing compared to the suffering of Ukrainian people,” Klochko said at the rally. “Ukraine is not really a far away place. We’re all connected.”

Tetyana Hubska, who has dual-citizenship in the United States and Ukraine, was among those who attended the rally on Saturday. Seeing her family living under siege and Ukrainians defending their country, she said the country needs more help

“There are tanks under the windows. They can’t be in the village,” Hubska said. “A lot of my family is in Kyiv.”

Anya Miller, who came to the United states in 1999 but still has family in Ukraine, attended the rally with her children, 4-year-old Sofia and 8-year-old Nicholas, and Ukrainian flags draped over their shoulders.

“The world needs to wake up. This isn’t just Ukraine problem, this is good against evil,” Miller said.

The UCAO is currently fundraising for a longtime partner and fellow nonprofit, Revived Soldiers Ukraine. Klochko said Revived Soldiers Ukraine sends medical supplies and ambulances to Ukraine, and the UCAO website states they hope to raise $10,000 as soon as possible.

Dorm room activism for Ukraine from OSU

Julia Nawara, a third-year student at the Ohio State University, said she decided to act when she learned about the massive influx of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees into Poland. She said she started calling relatives and connections in Poland to learn more about areas that took in large numbers of refugees.

“As someone who’s going into the medical field, I think that every person’s life is sacred, and they each deserve to be treated and healthy,” Nawara said. “Just the fact that there’s people out there living in shelters with burns and cuts, I didn’t know how to just sit here and not do anything to help.”

After collecting a list of places in need, Nawara said she settled on an orphanage and a parish that is currently supporting more than 50 refugee families in Rzeszow, a large city in southeast Poland.

Nawara created a list of materials to collect on campus: bandages and gauze, new and gently used children’s clothing, diapers, burn kits, blankets and disinfectant wipes. These supplies will be shipped directly to Rzeszow, Nawara said, with her family ensuring delivery overseas and assistance from Ohio State.

After placing flyers around campus and posting on social media, Nawara said within 24 hours she had the support of Ohio State President Kristina Johnson and other university administrators as well as six student organizations. Her email, which was attached to her flyers, flooded with questions from people of all ages asking how they could help.

“I think that’s just the nature of what’s going on,” Nawara said about people’s eagerness to donate materials to Ukrainians. “It’s just from the goodness of people’s hearts that they just want to come out and to do some things to help somebody else.”

Nawara, working with the university, is accepting donations from the public at Ohio State’s Recreation and Physical Activity Center (RPAC) on Monday and Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Thursday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Another location accepting donations from the public is the Ohio Union, located on High Street, which will be open Monday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Nawara has already began collecting supplies at Nosker House, an OSU residence hall where she lives. Ohio State students can drop off donations there from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. until Friday.

“There are children, civilians and elderly that are in need of help, food, clothing, shelter and medical supplies,” Nawara said.

Ohio churches send aid and lift of prayers

As first-, second- and third-generation immigrants of Ukraine, Russia and surrounding countries, most members of Grace Evangelical Church have family directly impacted by the conflict in Ukraine, Deacon Taras Yakhnitskiy said.

Prayer will always be the first priority for the church, Pastor Viktor Moskalyuk said, and the church prays for peace in Ukraine every day. On Sunday, the church will host a public prayer service for Ukraine from 4-6 p.m. in front of the Ohio Statehouse.

“This is a time for the church to stand up, rise up and shine, because nothing else will heal like God can heal the hearts of men,” Moskalyuk said.

With many left homeless and in need of shelter from violence, Moskalyuk said churches in Ukraine and eastern Europe have become havens for displaced Ukrainians. Collecting four truckloads of donated humanitarian goods, Grace Evangelical Church works to deliver supplies to those churches.

Funding the shipping of a large amount of supplies is difficult, Yakhnitskiy said. The church is also grappling with long standard shipping times that delay life-saving resources.

“If we send it through the plane, the cost for shipment for about a truckload is about $30,000,” Moskalyuk said. “If they’re shipping it through the sea, it will take about a month, month and a half.”