GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Ukrainians who now call Grand Rapids home are working to raise money for wounded soldiers receiving medical treatment in the United States.
As Russia’s war in Ukraine approaches its third year, Oleksandra Soltinska and her daughter Veronika Pleune have not slowed down their efforts to send humanitarian aid.
“We send lots of medicine, more than we started … but it’s not enough,” Soltinska said. “It goes straight to Ukraine. It’s still from Chicago to Ukraine and straight to the front lines so they get it less than one week.”
On a recent trip to deliver supplies to Chicago, Soltinska and Pleune came across wounded soldiers in need.
“Normally when we go to Chicago to drop off the supplies to our colleague in Chicago, he picks it up, takes it, but … we went over there and he wasn’t able to, so he asked if we could just drop it off at the house. Well, the house was where the rehabilitated soldiers were staying at,” Pluene said.
The family met with the soldiers and saw the toll the war has had.
“It’s so many in Ukraine,” Soltinska said. “I don’t think Ukraine even can handle it.”
They say many need to seek treatment overseas and are receiving care with the help of a nonprofit called Revived Soldiers Ukraine.
“The money that’s raised through fundraisers and everything pays for the surgeries and rehabilitation,” Pluene said.
It is a level of treatment not always available in Ukraine.
“They patch them up and send them off. There’s really no care for rehabilitation. There’s no money for prosthetics to give them a fighting chance of living,” Pluene said.
Inspired by the impact the organization is having, they decided to hold a charity gala later this month to support the effort.
“We got the help from our church, the Ukrainian St. Michael Church, and then also the Ukrainian Society of Grand Rapids, as well, they’re helping us quite a bit. And what we’re doing is charging for the ticket and that will include food, there will be music, there will be dancing, there’s going to be a little bit of talking about the organization, and a silent auction,” Pluene said.
The Ukrainians are trying to do their part with the uncertainty surrounding future military aid under a second Trump administration. The president-elect has pledged to end the war.
“I really hope that what he says will be true, but I have a feeling that his way of de-escalating and ending this is saying, ‘Here, Ukraine, you give up this portion of land, Russia pull out and you can have this,’ which is not what it’s about.”
The gala fundraiser is Dec. 28. Tickets cost $75 per person and can be purchased online.
