HELENA — Hands On Global, a Helena-based non-profit, is preparing to send more help to Ukraine as it navigates shifting U.S. policy toward the now three-year-long war.
Max Maks, lives in Ukraine and says, "If you can imagine your morning when it starts with the sirens the next sound is the explosion somewhere around your neighborhood."
(Hear from Helenans who have traveled to Ukraine)
This has been the daily life for Ukrainians for three years but American support from groups like Hands on Global has helped Ukrainian people stay strong.
"We initially went to Ukraine three years ago about three weeks after this current war started. Now the Ukrainians always say that this is a continuation of the war on Crimea," Valerie Hellermann, the executive director of Hands on Global says.
The organization provides medical supplies to the front lines and will be returning to the country in March
Hellermann says, "We are bringing orthopedic equipment that is life and limb-saving."
With a new administration in the United States Ukrainians like Maks, a leader of his own non-profit in Ukraine, have some concerns.
Maks says, "It is very frustrating what is going on and why the direction of the new policy has changed direction so dramatically for us."
Despite the frustrations of what may be next for U.S. and Ukraine relations, Maks feels that a potential mineral deal between the two countries is not a shock and not a bad idea.
"It is not a surprise that those minerals are there, we knew that we have it and it was our country's problem that we didn't develop it," Maks says.
But what civilians and volunteers see happening in a country that has been mired in war for three years is exactly why non-profits have jumped in and continue to help.
Hellermann recalls her first visit to Ukraine.
"We would see children with magic marker on their backs with their names, their parent's names and a phone number because the parents were so afraid that the children would get injured, lost, or the parents would die," Hellermann says.
To continue their work, five volunteers from Hands on Global will head back to Ukraine for the sixth time on March 28th.
As for Maks, his message from Ukraine to our country is, “Your impact on our safety first of all you cannot imagine how thankful people are."
If you would like to support Hands on Globals efforts donations can be made to their website.
