For the past several months, Americans have watched helplessly as news stations have covered the war going on in Ukraine. Yaro Hnatusko shares how Johnson City residents can help offer humanitarian aid to the people that are being affected most.
Hnatusko was born and raised in Ukraine, but currently is a full-time MBA student and graduate assistant at ETSU. After the war on Ukraine began, he partnered with his brother Stan, the deputy director of Ukrainian wholesaler Atlant, to create Restore Ukraine, a nonprofit organization that is working to provide “humanitarian support to local residents” in Kharkiv, which is the most bombed city in eastern Ukraine.
While many Americans have watched in horror as the news recounts the Russian attacks on Ukraine, Hnatusko still has family living in the country and the effects of the war have hit far too close to home.
He said, “When the war started … my brother recorded a video of missiles just flying over the house and you could hear them — you could hear them landing.”
The target was a military warehouse that stored ammunition and was just a few miles away from his family’s home. According to Hnatusko, his family was able to relocate to a safer area where they are now living with a group of other families who all help to support each other.
Unfortunately, many Ukrainian families have not been able to move to safer ground.
“Even as we speak there are bombs landing in Kharkiv,” said Hnatusko. “Nobody knew it would come to so many atrocities … nobody expected it.”
One of Restore Ukraine’s first projects was related to forced migration. They partnered with two other global organizations to transport people out of some of the most bombed cities in Ukraine and to safer places within the European Union and other western countries.
They then worked to quickly convert Atlant warehouses into bomb shelters and food and supplies distribution hubs. Today these warehouses are providing shelter to over 100 people and food to over 500. Families can receive from Restore Ukraine either three hot and nutritious meals per day or a month’s worth of prepackaged foods.
In addition to providing food and shelter to displaced Ukrainians, Restore Ukraine has several construction projects that they are focusing on.
One of these is the construction of a refugee village that will house between 200-300 people. Blueprints have already been drawn up for this village which will consist of modular homes. This building project is in partnership with several local agencies in Kharkiv, but it will cost upwards of $1 million to complete.
Restore Ukraine is also working to rebuild the homes that have been destroyed by Russian bombs. They send experts out to the sites to assess the damages and calculate what it will take to restore the home. According to Hnatusko, the cost to restore each home is between $1,000-$2,000.
Getting these homes reconstructed is a matter of urgency right now as winter is quickly approaching for Ukraine. Hnatusko pointed out that “winters are much more harsh in Ukraine than they are in East Tennessee. … It starts around the middle of November and lasts until the beginning of April. It’s a very long winter, and we have to prepare our Kharkiv residents for that.”
He continued to say that if these displaced families in Kharkiv don’t have homes to stay in, they won’t be able to make it through the winter. Some of the homes have sustained so much damage that Restore Ukraine will only be able to reconstruct, insulate and furnish one room for the family to live in throughout the winter.
“Now our budget is very limited, and we know that the level of devastation is quite massive in Ukraine,” he said. “What we’re able to do so far with our own fundraising resources is still not enough.”
Hnatusko said that the best way for East Tennesseans, and Americans in general, to help is to donate money to Restore Ukraine. Donations can then be allocated as needed to help not only fund the restoration of homes in Kharkiv, but to purchase the food and supplies that the organization offers to the people they serve.
While many similar nonprofits may only be able to direct about 90% of their revenue to those in need, Restore Ukraine has worked hard to reduce their overhead expenses so that 95% of their total revenue can be put to use serving the people of Ukraine. Hnatusko said that his organization is unique because it is one of the few that is on-site at Kharkiv, which is in many ways isolated from the rest of the world.
Supporting Restore Ukraine can help give donors peace of mind that their money is going directly to the people who need it the most.
Hnatusko said that there is no quick and easy solution to the devastation in Ukraine, and it will be “a 10-year project to rebuild the whole country.” He said that he knows it is a great deal of money that is needed to help restore these homes, but even the smallest donations can help.
To learn more about Restore Ukraine, see the work that they are doing or to donate, go to www.restore-ukraine.org or follow them on Instagram at restore_ukraine_.
