NASHVILLE – “We don’t have refugee camps in Poland,” Szymon Czyszek explains. Instead, Poles have welcomed Ukrainians into their private homes, despite often speaking different languages.
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NASHVILLE – “We don’t have refugee camps in Poland,” Szymon Czyszek explains. Instead, Poles have welcomed Ukrainians into their private homes, despite often speaking different languages. Czyszek is in the United States for the Knights of Columbus annual convention, giving testimony to what the Knights have seen and done in Poland and Ukraine to help innocent victims of the Russian war on the Ukrainian people. He remembers a mother who had an 8-day-old baby with her. She walked five days in freezing temperatures during “a time that should be filled with joy and hope, and she had to flee.” He says “these stories never end” of people surmounting physically and mentally rigorous challenges.
For Czyszek, the war in Ukraine is not about foreign headlines, but real men, women and children. “For us to prevail, it is essential that we are spiritually and morally stronger than our enemies,” he says.
At the same time, people need food, water, roofs and jobs. To be able to meet some of these needs, the Knights launched a Ukrainian Relief Fund earlier this year and have raised $19 million as I write. Half of the contributions have come from nonmembers in response to media appearances by Czyszek and other appeals. There’s no overhead – all the money goes to the efforts on the ground.
“With the support we’ve received, we’re able to respond very effectively to the needs of the people of Ukraine,” Czyszek says.
Yuriy Maletskiy is the head of the Knights in Ukraine. His instinct was to join the fighting in his country, but Czyszek convinced him that he had another role to play. With Maletskiy in the lead, the Knights have become synonymous with charity for Ukrainians on both sides of the border, regardless of their religion.