Last week AKWorld was honored to host three notable Alaskans who have taken an active role in providing relief during the war in Ukraine – Art Davidson with Assist Ukraine, Tetyana Robbins a co-founder of Project Alaska, and Chris Lujan who has worked both in Ukraine providing medical training to frontline units and here in Alaska helping support resettled Ukrainians. Moderating the discussion was former lieutenant governor Mead Treadwell.
Each speaker had their own path to becoming involved in the relief efforts in Ukraine, but each felt compelled by a desire to help those who had done nothing to bring the destruction and devastation upon themselves. Project Alaska quickly began organizing funds and flights to get people who wanted to leave Ukraine out of the country, moving over 2,000 people since the spring of 2022. They then started the harder work of helping those people integrate into their new homes by finding jobs, attending schools, and lobbying the federal government to extend the very visas that allowed them to come here in the first place.
Assist Ukraine jumped into action helping Ukrainians’ most vulnerable populations – orphans. After successfully relocating an orphanage to a relatively safer area of Ukraine, Assist Ukraine pivoted to providing the nuts and bolts of support – medical supplies, food pouches, heat blankets. Seemingly little things that make a huge difference in the ability of troops on the frontlines to maintain their efforts day after day. Assist Ukraine also found ways to bring the bigger things that troops needed like flak jackets, generators, and ambulances. Art stressed that Assist Ukraine doesn’t decide what to send, nor do donors, everything that is provided is something that has been specifically asked for by the men and women on the ground. Through a dedicated network of people both inside and outside of Ukraine, Assist Ukraine continues their hard work of supporting those within Ukraine.
Chris is no stranger to war, as a veteran of the US Army who served in Afghanistan, but this time he wasn’t ordered to go, he felt a strong and compelling need to use his training in a way that would help people he had gotten to know while working as a missionary in Ukraine. Chris went back to Ukraine to get people who wanted to leave out and to help provide medical training to frontline units. After returning to Anchorage, he continues to be actively engaged in resettlement efforts and community development initiatives supporting newly arrived Ukrainian refugees, and ensuring that they are able to continue living in the United States until the conflict ends.
Speaking to the large gathering of community members and students at the Beartooth Theater, both Art and Chris reminded the audience that while this conflict may feel very far away, the things that Ukrainians are fighting for are important to everyone – rejecting tyranny, protecting freedom of speech, and standing up for their families and livelihoods.
AKWorld would like to thank Mead Treadwell, Art Davidson, Tetyana Robbins, and Chris Lujan for making this program possible. Alaska2Ukraine’s president Mark Hayward had a last minute conflict and was unable to attend, but we want to acknowledge the work that his organization is also doing in Ukraine. Thank you to everyone who attended and was part of the conversation.
