Volunteers load truck at St. Michael's.
Mykola Blyzniuk steered a 53-foot tractor-trailer from George Street filled with 24 pallets and 600 cartons of donated bandages, wheelchairs, scalpels, breathing tubes, and first aid kits destined for Lviv, Ukraine.
Mykola Blyzniuk in preparation for filling, and then driving, tractor trailer.
The truck was filled and then driven Monday from St. Michael The Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church to an airport, where it will be loaded onto a plane bound for Poland. From there, the supplies will be trucked to the Liviv Regional Hospital for Soldiers and War Veterans.
Some of the donations will remain there, others trucked to other hospitals throughout Ukraine, a number of them bombed out, where medical crews are struggling to keep people alive amid a critical shortage of supplies.
This is the fourth such truckload prepared and shipped by organizers of New Haven’s support network for the people in Ukrainian fighting for their lives and for their nation amid an invasion and aerial bombardment by Russia; and for millions of refugees who have fled the destruction and relocated either in western Ukraine or in other nations.
The New Haven network has helped settle six refugee families so far, with several more expected to arrive soon, according to Ukrainian-American organizer Myron Melnyk.
Meanwhile, Melnyk and others continue to lobby elected officials — like U.S. Sen. Dick Blumethal and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who have championed Ukraine-support bills.
And they work to keep alive the stories of the people battling to stay alive against long odds, and inspiring the world with a resistance that has held Russian invaders largely at bay.
Ukrainian American Veterans Post 33 Commander Carl Harvey, Melnyk, and Nadiya Ivantsiv, whose children and grandchildren remain in Ukraine, told those stories, from the truckloads of aid to the prospects for victory to the daily phone calls accompanied by prayers that relatives remain alive, during an update conversation on WNHH FM Wednesday.
Click on the video to watch the conversation. And email Harvey at carlrharvey79@gmail.com or visit the church website to learn more about how to help the Ukrainian relief effort.
Melnyk, and Ivantsiv and Harvey on WNHH FM.