SLAVI UKRAINI!

SLAVA UKRAINI!

Jersey City supports Ukraine

Story by Daniel Israel Photos courtesy of the Ukrainian National Home and Ukrainian Jersey City

InFebruary of 2022, a large-scale war broke out in Europe for the first time since the Balkan Wars in the 1990s. The Russian Federation, at the behest of dictator Vladimir Putin, launched an invasion of Ukraine to support and eventually annex separatist areas in the eastern portion of the country propped up by the Russian government.

Since then, the war has shifted through many phases, from Ukraine being on the defensive to now launching a counteroffensive against the Russian occupiers. As fighting between Ukrainians forces defending their homeland and the Russian invaders continues, many are impacted by the war, not only in Ukraine but across the world, even in Hudson County in New Jersey.

Two nonprofit organizations in Jersey City have been at the forefront of local efforts to aid Ukrainians devastated by the war abroad and refugees fleeing the wartorn country that have made it to safety in New Jersey. Leaders from both organizations spoke with Jersey City Magazine about their initiatives to help those impacted by the Russian war in Ukraine to the best of their abilities.

Ukrainian roots in Jersey City date back a century

Olena Halkowycz is a member of the Board of Directors at the Ukrainian National Home. The nonprofit organization has deep roots in Jersey City, having celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2018.

“The Ukrainian community in Jersey City has been organized into the Ukrainian National Home since 1918,” Olena said. The nonprofit hosts festivals, picnics, celebrations and easter egg paintings each year.

The Ukrainian National Home also provides a space for member organizations to operate in, including things like youth organizations, dance groups and a women’s organization. Specifically, the facilities are used by local branches of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Organization for Defense of Lemko Western Ukraine as well as local nonprofits including Ukrainian Jersey City, among others.

The Ukrainian National Home and many of the organizations it supports have been active in Jersey City for quite some time. Since the start of the invasion, the Ukrainian National Home has shifted gears from hosting cultural events to providing support for those affected by the war, led by Humanitarian Project Director and member of the Board of Directors for the Ukrainian National Home Wasyl Nikolyn.

“Now not only do we focus on cultural events, we also focus on current events and fundraising,” Olena said.

The support for Ukraine by the Ukrainian National Home in part translates to antiwar activism. The organization has coordinated multiple trips to protests in major cities across the United States to vocalize against the Russian war in Ukraine.

“We also try to organize the community to join a protest in New York or a protest by the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C.,” Olena said. “We’ve organized two bus trips to Washington, D.C. We include Jersey City into the national activities here in the United States.”

Ukrainian National Home’s doors open to those affected

For months, the Ukrainian National Home has been collecting donations of necessities to ship to Ukrainians in need overseas and refugees who made it to Jersey City. Efforts are slowing now, but the organization is still collecting donations from anyone looking to help.

“We are winding it down over time, especially now with the tragic weather events that are happening,” Olena said. “We turned down the fundraising, and when you do that you will also affect your shipping abilities. It’s expensive to ship. So as we’re winding down the collections, and the funding is winding down, we’re shipping over the last supplies.”

The supplies currently being collected and distributed to Ukrainians abroad are mainly winter clothing items and other essentials. Olena said the community has been generous with their donations at such a pivotal time.

“We provided help until the tail end of the winter last year, and this year we’re looking for whatever we have left, the coats, the socks, the hats and the gloves, and we’re sending that out,” Olena said. “We’re sending baby products out. Health and beauty aids, we’re sending that out. I can’t even tell you how the community in both Jersey City and Hudson County came through.”

There has been a groundswell of support from not only Jersey City, but all of Hudson County, Olena said. The efforts to help Ukraine extend beyond the local Ukrainians primarily living in Jersey City as well as Bayonne.

Olena continued: “We have the police association supporting us. We have teachers in schools supporting us by teaching current events and holding fundraisers with parents. We have the business community supporting us, and most of them were not Ukrainians. They just understood the need, and they understood the horror and the tragedy of the people.”

Jersey City community stands united for the Ukrainian cause

Many types of people from all different creeds have lent a hand in some way, shape or form, according to Olena. The war has united many people from all walks of life in support of Ukraine.

“It’s not only the regular community, the teachers, the unions, but the clergy and

the religious organizations, be they synagogues or churches or mosques,” Olena said. “People of all religions have come through to help us. We had humanitarian and spiritual support at our events. We had people from different denominations, different religious organizations, and they came to help us. They prayed with us, they supported us.”

Olena said the hyperlocal community near the Ukrainian National Home’s location has been beyond supportive, including people who live on Central Avenue and Palisades Avenue who walk in with donations. The overwhelming support is encouraging, she said, as the war is no longer at the top of everyone’s minds as it was when Russia first invaded.

“The tragedy in Ukraine is not reported as much as it was,” Olena said. “The tragedy did not lessen, it actually got worse because the lands that the Russian government occupies are really torture chambers.”

The state of the war has intensified as Russia has announced annexation of parts of the Russian-backed separatist territories of Ukrainian following a sham referendum. Olena said people living in these territories that are being forcefully made a part of Russia are being heavily oppressed.

“People are forced to say they are Russian,” Olena said. “There is a door-to-door campaign and you don’t tell somebody you don’t want to be Russian because that’s trouble. The men are being drafted to fight against Ukraine. Some were taken to Russia proper. It’s tragic. People are shipped by the thousands to Russia and dispersed throughout the land so they can be workers. It’s torture. They were evicted from their homes and shipped over to Russia.”

Keeping attention on the Russian war in Ukraine

According to Olena, much of the worst things happening in the war are not heavily publicized, and the longer the war continues, the worse the situation gets for Ukrainians. She hoped that more awareness can be raised of the atrocities brought on by the Russian war in Ukraine.

“It has happened in the past after World War II, when refugees were forced to take trains to go back to their homeland, but they never went to their homeland,” Olena said. “They were taken to Siberia and into the work camps and gulags. Somehow, there’s a low profile on this stuff that’s going on and it’s not good.”

Olena hopes not only to raise more awareness on the impacts of the war, but to keep people’s attention as winter approaches. That will be a critical time for Ukraine.

“Now that winter is coming, the food situation is poor,” Olena said. “The logistics situation is poor. The structural damage is everywhere with the fallout from all the shelling and the explosives, and the mines that have been set up everywhere. They just continue to harm.”

Despite everything, Olena remains hopeful that Ukraine will prosper in the Russian war, especially considering the help of the United States government as well as the people.

“God bless all our friends that are supporting us, not only humanitarian but also supporting us militarily. They’re buying weapons and they’re training Ukrainians with how to use their weapons. That is so helpful, and we’re able to survive. Ukraine couldn’t do this alone. It would have been overrun by Russia, and God only knows where Russia would have stopped. But we have stopped them at our borders, though we have lost some of our borders. God bless all the people of the different nations and their leaders that are helping Ukraine.” Ukrainian Jersey City helping refugees in need

Courtesy of the Ukrainian National Home

One of the organizations that also uses the Ukrainian National Home facilities is Ukrainian Jersey City, known as Ukrainian JC for short. Olena said they work to help the refugees arriving in Jersey City.

“They help the refugees when they come to them, and they give them all they need,” Olena said. “Recently we had a picnic and people came to get their winter boots and winter coats for their children, health and beauty aids, necessities, toothpaste, toothbrushes. We also share the donations with the refugees in Jersey City.”

Oksana Condon is not only a member of the Board of Directors of the Ukrainian National Home, she is the president of nonprofit Ukrainian JC. She said she founded the organization back in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was COVID time, and just as we were coming out of this heavy wave of everybody being at home, my dear friend Mariya Soroka, who founded Razom for Ukraine, we got together with two other girls and we thought it would be nice to get everybody together somewhere outside just to see people and to talk to people. So we did and we had 30 people show up that day. We realized there was a big community of Ukrainians who came here under different circumstances. After World War I, there were waves of immigrants coming from Ukraine. So the people who come now from Ukraine, they are educated, they have professions and it’s very different. The culture we have here is kind of outdated to the times when people left. So we wanted to bring this modern culture and art and highlight that here.”

Ukrainian JC has been active in the community ever since. From cultural gatherings to now anti-war protests, they aim to promote modern Ukrainian culture in Jersey City and beyond.

“We were organizing events prior to the war,” Oksana said. “Our mission is to promote modern Ukrainian culture to Jersey City and to Ukrainians in the city.”

Shifting gears to support Ukrainians amid invasion

While the organization was putting together Ukrainian cultural events before the Russian invasion, things have since

Mayor Steven Fulop

Courtesy of the Ukrainian National Home

changed. Ukrainian JC still looks to promote Ukrainian culture in Jersey City, but first looks to help save it in its homeland overseas.

“We have a few projects that we took on since the war,” Oksana said. “When the war started, we took on the project of humanitarian aid, which included sending cars, ambulances, tourniquets, uniforms, wheelchairs and more. We also help two orphanages, and two elderly homes. We helped build a bomb shelter for kids for the orphanage.”

Back in Jersey City, the organization is helping refugees who were able to flee the war in Ukraine. The Refugee Project Manager is Tamara Syby, who coordinates how Ukrainian JC helps each refugee.

“Many people left with nothing and came here,” Oksana said. “It was also a few waves of the way people were coming here. The way people were getting out of war, it was very difficult. The airports were closed on day one and they were heavily bombed by the Russians. I don’t think American readers understand what it means to be under occupation. People don’t understand how hard it is to get out of those areas and how lengthy the process can be and how dangerous.”

Oksana said many were affected by the war overnight. The Russian invasion changed their entire lives in an instant, causing them to eventually flee.

“People were sleeping calmly and then the army just stormed in,” Oksana said. “They went to bed in Ukraine and they woke up under occupation of Russia. Their soldiers are ruthless. So people were staying in bomb shelters and bunkers not coming out because they would be murdered. The Russians would track their phones and everything. It’s very dangerous to be in an occupied zone. Civilians don’t belong there. They’re there just as a human shield.”

Horror and tragedy inflicted by Russian forces

The horrors of the war in Ukraine underscore the importance of the work that Ukrainian JC does. Oksana said the organization began helping Ukrainian refugees just days after the Russians invaded, and they continue to come in waves.

“The refugees left with nothing and they were living peaceful lives,” Oksana said. “They come here with nothing. People started coming around March 1. I feel we started to get our first arrivals then, which is like six days after the war started. That was the people who were closer to the border at that time. We did not know how soon and what was going to happen, and there was a fear that Kyiv would fall really quickly.”

Many of the refugees who flee Ukraine are women and children. The husbands and fathers often stay behind, taking up arms to defend their country against Russia.

“We have a lot of mothers with children, because the husbands are there fighting the war,” Oksana said. “So that’s the hardest part. It’s enough that they’re coming by themselves, but they have to take care of the kids also. Then you have schooling, and you have medical health records that you have to do for schooling. It’s very difficult just to provide.”

Oksana’s family made up some of the refugees fleeing Ukraine in March. They had previously visited her in Jersey City during the summers before fleeing the war.

“I have sisters who are 13 and 14,” Oksana said. “The only reason why my family decided to come is because of them. At that time, we were fearing for them not to get raped and killed by Russians. That was a very straightforward possibility, considering what was and is still happening right now in our country. I had family that traveled by river to get out at night so they’re not killed. It’s surreal.”

While many refugees were arriving in March, the United States did not open the applications for Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for refugees until April, when President Joe Biden extended TPS for Ukrainian refugees preventing them from being deported and helping them find work. Until then and even afterward still, many people who fled Ukraine are left to survive off the donations of organizations like Ukrainian JC and the Ukrainian National Home.

“People were living here, just off volunteers helping out,” Oksana said. “That was purely it. They had no food and no shelter. They were coming, either to relatives or friends, or volunteers were offering up their places to stay.”

Offering assistance to refugees on arrival

Courtesy of the Ukrainian National Home

Oksana was encouraged by the outpouring of support for Ukraine and the refugees fleeing the Russian invasion. She said many refugees were just like Jersey City residents, only now forced to find their way in a new country after the Russian invasion.

“I was hoping they would help,” Oksana said. “We are all immigrants here at the end of the day, besides the Native Americans. We live on one planet, so for us to

get along and to help each other, this is the way. We have to work with each other. And these families, they are bringing very good knowledge. A majority of them are very well educated with a great work ethic and incredible people.”

If a Ukrainian refugee arrives in Jersey City, and they are looking for help, they can reach out to Ukrainian JC. The first step for any refugee is to fill out a Google Form about themself, which the nonprofit uses to assess how they can help.

“The first step is to fill out the Google Form providing information about themselves, like who did they arrive with and when, and what their immediate needs are, as well as any contact information,” Oksana said. “Then we contact them and we talk to them. After that, we determine how we can help.”

In addition to helping provide food, clothing and other necessities, Ukrainian JC helps provide refugees with a number of other vital services. This ranges from health clinics to attorney clinics to educate refugees on how to fill out the proper paperwork and what to do with it afterward.

“We have two lists, a needs list and a volunteers list,” Oksana said. “So people volunteered their homes, their clothing, their food, their pro bono help attorney services, their pro bono help with medical services. That’s what we needed, their pro bono help, to get kids in schools. That was super difficult because kids came at the end of the year and to get them into school was hard.”

On top of that, perhaps the most important thing Ukrainian JC does is help refugees without a place to stay find a host family. The organization is assisting about 146 families in various ways right now.

Meeting refugees’ needs on a case-by-case basis

“Each family has different needs,” Oksana said. “Some people if they come to family or friends, they don’t have a need for housing. I mean, they still do in the sense that everybody wants to have their own place, because some people are literally living on couches in people’s houses. For each person, the level of help depends on their needs. But we try to help all of them. Some people just need guidance, like where to go, who to talk to, and pro bono legal help.”

Using their connections, Ukrainian JC was able to secure charity care for some refugees at RWJBarnabas Health Jersey City Medical Center and pro bono legal services from the City of Jersey City. Oksana said the city has been very helpful assisting the nonprofit in aiding refugees, even welcoming some to the city when they arrived in April with bags of supplies.

“Jersey City was and continues to be very generous and very helpful,” Oksana said. “We will continue to engage people here and will continue doing so until we’re done with this terrible, terrible war.”

According to Oksana, Ukrainian people are very loyal. She said that one day, they will hopefully be able to return the favor.

“If you help Ukrainians, they will help you down the line,” Oksana said. “I am very thankful for people who did not turn their shoulder away. I really am appreciative of the people who stepped out of their comfort zone and wanted to help.”

Part of that may be because Jersey City has a large Ukrainian population. However, the support for refugees fleeing the war has come from diverse groups of people.

“Most people who live in Jersey City know at least one Ukrainian,” Oksana said. “Once you know a Ukrainian and our culture, we typically create relationships and are very open and warm people. In Jersey City, immigrants from Ukraine came all the way back in 1918, after World War I. The Ukrainian National Home just celebrated 100 years. That’s a long time that Ukrainians have been here. But I think the reason why people helped truly is because we have a very diverse city. Because of that, we have people from all over the world. Those communities have experienced trouble from Russia and their invasions. They’ve been donating and bringing clothes. From all over, we felt like it was all the communities that have offered help. Because we’re so diverse in here, and people have troubles in their own countries and their own homes, that’s why it’s united us for a better future.”

Courtesy of the Ukrainian National Home

Help continues as long as the war lasts

Oksana reinforced that Ukrainian JC and the Ukrainian National Home would continue to support Ukrainians abroad, refugees in Jersey City, and all those impacted by the Russian invasion as long as the war goes on. Even as the war changes, they will still be there to fill the need, and to keep the cause present in everyone’s thoughts, having held rallies and town halls in the past supporting Ukraine.

“We are continuing our efforts into the future,” Oksana said. “The war is changing, and this is super important for us to continue to talk about until this is over. Right now, we’re winning. So we really need support more than ever right now to get this job done and to free the occupied parts of the country. If we lose, God forbid, Georgia, Belarus and all these other countries are just going to vanish.”

At the end of the day, most Ukrainians want to go back to their home country and rebuild. They long for a victory over Russia to return to their lives in peace.

“A lot of the families want to go back home,” Oksana said. “They want to go back home to their families. So keep on supporting us, because we have to make sure that the world is for good people and not evil.”

For refugees looking for help, email Ukrainian JC at info@ukrainianjc.com. The same applies for residents seeking to donate to or volunteer with the nonprofit. — JCM