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Want to Help Ukraine, but You Think You're Too Small? [1]

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Date: 2025-05-21

Have you been wondering what you could do to help Ukraine? Feeling small? Don’t have 100 million laying around that you could send to help them feed themselves and run their local governments?

Yeah, I get it. I’m feeling remarkably useless, too. I mean my vote in November didn’t work. And now my country is abandoning the victims of Europe’s largest land invasion since World War II. Wasn’t it old Eddie Burke who gets credit for the quotation, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and others] to do nothing.”

Well, I share a podcast hosting gig with this cool dude who was career military, then career educator. He’s also a Vonnegut scholar – while I’m just a wicked big Vonnegut fan. The podcast is based on Kurt’s notion of secular sainthood – people who behave decently in indecent times. This month, Max and I interviewed some folks who’ve been living, working and raising families on the front line. In both cases, they and/or their families fled the violence only to return and fight for decency amidst the invasion.

One of our guests, Svitlana, became a bit of a worldwide sensation when, back in 2022, she and some friends made a display of strollers for each child murdered in the war. The picture of the strollers went viral – that’s it, at the top of this story. Tragically, the display had to come down when the number of dead children far outstripped the number of available strollers.

We also interviewed Yuri, a gentleman who works for his local government and when he sent his family away, he stayed and kept the mechanics of daily life working for his community. He, and thousands of civil servants like him, display a heroism and courage that is rarely acknowledged in war.

Alexander translated when necessary during the podcast, but Yuri and Svitlana have learned English so well – so that they might entreat the world to keep the faith with their cause – that in an hour long podcast his interpretations were only occasionally needed.

And to round out the show, we interviewed Melissa Crick. She’s the president of the Paradise (California) Unified School District and she’s the living breathing example of what you can do. You see, Paradise is a sister city exchanging time, emotional support and shared experiences with a city in Ukraine. Even the school children in Paradise are able to help. Some of them meet regularly – online – with their peers who have been displaced by the war. They laugh and talk – sharing stories, music and friendship.

You can listen to the podcast here or wherever you stream your audio content.

After the interview concluded, I wrote to my mayor (I really love this guy) and our town manager (she’s pretty cool, too) and asked them to hook us up.

I live in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It’s a historic little town. In the late 1700’s Washington (yeah, that Washington — a contemporary of Eddie Burke, mind you) mustered troops here and J.E.B. Stuart blew the hell out of the place on his way to Gettysburg less than a hundred years later.

For a time, we were home to a wonderful man, Sherwood McGinnis, who – after a career in the state department – worked tirelessly for peace. There’s a downtown peace and justice center that bears his name. I think we’re a perfect place to figuratively hold hands with people halfway around the world who should not be forgotten.

So, here’s what you can do. Write to your mayor. Ask your town manager in Anywhere, USA to link-up with a town in Ukraine. Svitlana and her colleagues at Cities 4 Cities, United 4 Ukraine will be happy to find you the perfect little village, or bigger city – whatever suits your needs. Write to me if you like, and I’ll share a copy of the letter I sent to my mayor and town manager – you can just change the names of the recipients and slap your signature to the bottom of it.

Let’s partner with the Ukrainian people – even if for now, that feels like all we can do.

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