Worthy endeavor advances our joint victory
For the last 70 years, the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC) has responded to the most urgent needs of Ukraine. Even during the most difficult times of Ukraine’s struggles, UUARC has been in the forefront in sending aid to those in need.
Today, relying on numerous benefactors and volunteers, UUARC continues to carry on its very necessary and beneficial work. This effort helps achieve a step-by-step progress for our countrymen who are in need of support the most, such as: orphans, the needy, the elderly and those who are handicapped. UUARC also supports various educational and patriotic programs for impoverished children and those from needy large families. Many other needs are met through other charitable endeavors. UUARC stands together with Ukraine, whether during the Orange Revolution (2004), or most recently from the start of the Euro-Maidan and the Russian incursion. UUARC quickly aids all those countrymen who are protecting Ukrainian independence by giving up everything, and by making the ultimate sacrifice.
Besides purchases being made in Ukraine, during the summer and fall of last year, 77 individual boxes and suitcases (weighing 50 pounds each), containing much-needed aid were sent to the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) and the Kyiv Military Hospital. Three containers of humanitarian aid were shipped to Ukraine in the fall and winter.
On September 29, 2014, a 40-foot container was shipped to the regional community organization, Our Home Union of Homeless Afghanistan Veterans in the Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. The container, weighing almost 26,500 pounds, included the following: used furniture in very good condition (tables, chairs, shelves), children’s, women’s and men’s clothing, duvets, blankets, bedding, pillows, mattresses, wheelchairs, medical beds, stair lifts for invalids, walkers, crutches, portable toilets, shower seats, ultrasound devices (ProServ and Sony), therapeutic equipment, X-ray lamps to view films/images, chargers, various medical/physician’s equipment, e.g., for inhaling (especially the Misty Max 10 inhaler, oxygen masks, etc.), for urinary and gastrointestinal tracts, insulin-protective containers, surgical stockings, anti-bedsore pillows, and an “ATT To” endoscope. This is just a partial list of the contents of the cargo, valued at $45,969. It was delivered to the members of the organization and their families, to hospitals in the cities of Pustomyty and Rudky in the Lviv Oblast, to the Lviv hospital Invalids of War and for the needs of the participants in the ATO.
On November 22, 2014, another 40-foot container was shipped, this time to the Logos Community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate in the Kyiv Oblast for the needs of the community and hospitals that are treating the wounded participants of the ATO. The cargo (weighing over 25,500 pounds) was valued at $29,090 and included mostly used items in good condition. Among the multiple items were children’s, women’s and men’s clothing, duvets, blankets, bedding, pillows, mattresses, wheelchairs, beds, various medical products, walkers, medical and other furniture (such as medical examination tables and hospital beds), umbrellas, stair lift motor and cables, medical equipment (ultrasound machine and monitor), and physical therapy products. In addition, the shipment contained new medical and physician’s equipment (X-ray machines), textiles and medical items.
On December 27, 2014, a second 40-foot container was shipped to the regional community organization, Our Home Union of Homeless Afghanistan Veterans in the Lviv Oblast. It is worth noting the unusually efficient and constructive cooperation with this organization. The organization’s care and responsibility in distributing the cargo, and its subsequent precise operational reporting deserve special gratitude. The container (weighing 23, 100 pounds) included the following: sleeping bags for extremely cold temperatures, medical equipment and medical products, personal hygiene items, 4,920 pairs of thermal underwear, 1,420 pairs of warm socks, 4,320 pairs of gloves, camouflage outfits, 257 pairs of military winter footwear (initiated by UUARC’s representative in Rochester, N.Y.), 39,120 hand- and foot-warmers, 15 boxes of toys for orphaned children whose parents died in the war, two electric wheelchairs for wounded invalids, 100 units of tactical tourniquets. 350 blood-stopping materials (Olaes Modular Bandages), 150 SWAT and Soft Tactical Tourniquets, 738 units of QuikClot bandages, and 15 boxes (29,480 units) of physician masks. Also, children in orphanages who play for Ukraine’s Little League Baseball received eight large boxes of baseball equipment and uniforms (initiated by Basil Tarasko and Roman Leskiw). This is just a portion of the cargo, which was valued at $105,673.
Everything sent by UUARC passes through appropriate sanitary and disinfection procedures, and meets all ecological requirements. UUARC has also established a productive cooperative relationship with Ukrainian government institutions and other commercial and civic organizations. Sincere thanks are due to: Ukraine International Airlines, Dnipro LLC freight forwarding company, Meest package delivery company, Universal Travel Services in Philadelphia, the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington and the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York.
These three containers are only a small portion of the assistance that UUARC provides thanks to our dear and tireless contributors. We thank all whose hearts, even thousands of miles away, beat in unison with those that are pain-filled with fate’s difficult challenges. We thank those whose thoughts are with our countrymen, as they march and suffer unflinchingly through these most difficult times. Only together, will we achieve our joint victory of a united, peaceful and independent Ukraine.
Let us gather together under UUARC’s slogan: “Brother to brother!”
Translated by Leo Iwaskiw.