Here & Now

Wisconsin Ukrainians Support Family, Friends

Frederica Freyberg:

In other news, local efforts to help in the crisis half a world away continue as Wisconsinites find ways to support Ukraine. One such effort called Wisconsin Ukrainians out of Green Bay is raising funds and awareness, gathering resources and stories. The group’s founder, Jonathan Pylypiv joins us now. Thank you for being here.

Jonathan Pylypiv:

Good morning, thank you for giving us the opportunity to help share the message and what we are doing as an organization, thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

Absolutely. As a native of Ukraine, when you look upon what is happening there, you have said these are our friends, our families, and our ancestors. How emotional is it for you?

Jonathan Pylypiv:

Boy, I mean, it’s all very raw when you hear of some of these cities now that are being liberated and the war crimes, the atrocities being done by the Russian invaders, it’s just not only like heartbreaking but also just enraging because like Ukrainian people want to be in peace and our ancestors, I think of my grandma and letting their bodies rest in peace and so you know, it motivates us also to do whatever we can in Wisconsin and really all over the country to galvanize the support locally within our communities, to help bring positive change of support but also helping tell the story so people hear the Ukrainian voice and a direct connection to what is happening in Ukraine.

Frederica Freyberg:

Tell us what your group is doing. I see that you are sitting before a storage room of goods. Tell us what Ukrainians in Wisconsin is doing.

Jonathan Pylypiv:

Yes, so, Wisconsin Ukrainians started as a Facebook page in 2014, but now we are a 501c3 pending nonprofit organization and we have board members and people all over the state. I happen to be in the Fox Cities and a lot of us are in the Green Bay area. We are doing things like we started collecting much needed items, working with trusted partners in Ukraine to help logistics, to get items from point A to point B, and the items you see behind, this is at St. Matthew’s Church. This is one of many drives we have been doing and it’s kind of an ongoing effort, and also fundraising, so we can buy some high impact items. We are getting ready to donate funds so a local nonprofit in Ukraine can buy a van to not only help transport refugees but also goods and supplies that are much needed like medicine and other items like that.

Frederica Freyberg:

How hard is it to get those kinds of donations to the people in Ukraine?

Jonathan Pylypiv:

When we first started as a grassroots effort, we kind of — a lot of us from all over the state just kind of joined forces so we could do more together. Like this morning, I was in Kaukauna helping with a friend some art installation, I saw the current of the river, how strong it was. There was this perfect — for me, reflecting on it, that all of us if we move together and work towards the common goals of helping the Ukrainian people, we’re going to be very strong and powerful together and I think getting the items to Ukraine, we have multiple ways. One is by working with trusted partners like UMANA, Help Heroes of Ukraine in Chicago. Then also working with local trusted partners in Ukraine and Poland. We already have trust relations with so we can send some funds with people we already know and trust and then they can purchase some items locally in many instances and then get them to the people really quick, like we did with generators, getting them to Poland and then getting them into Ukraine to get them to the most impactful areas needed generators.

Frederica Freyberg:

You and others are in constant communication with people in Ukraine. What do the people there think will happen?

Jonathan Pylypiv:

Yeah, so you know, even when this war, this reinvasion started, I think there was a lot of concern that Russia will keep pushing and you know, typically in the last eight plus years and in historically we have not seen a lot of the Russian leadership honor their word, whether it’s the Budapest Memorandum when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons, whether it’s Holodomor in 1932 and ’33 when millions of Ukrainians were killed and starved, so right now, we are viewing this as another genocide of the Ukrainian people. They are killing civilians, targeting children, women, they are not letting people flee to safety and they are cutting off food and water, basic needs. And so we are — and then some of these areas are being retaken by the Ukrainians, there are just horrible atrocities that are being uncovered like in instance some of the people are — some of the Russian terrorists are defecating on the corpses of Ukrainian people. Just how low and deprived this invasion is. So, we are not only frustrated and upset, but we’re going to do everything we can to support and help expose the truth what’s happening.

Frederica Freyberg:

Thank you, thank you for your work. Jonathan Pylypiv out of Green Bay.

Jonathan Pylypiv:

Thank you for your support of Wisconsin Ukrainians, we appreciate it.