Hope For Ukraine: NJ Nonprofit Making Big Difference For Refugees – West Orange, NJ Patch

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — It doesn’t help to have money if there’s nothing to spend it on.

That’s the word on the ground in Ukraine from Yuriy Boyechko, founder of Roseland-based nonprofit, Hope for Ukraine, which has been providing emergency housing for about 150 people at its refugee center in Lviv in the wake of the Russian invasion.

Born and raised in the Ukraine, Boyechko – a Livingston resident – launched the nonprofit six years ago with one of his five siblings, Yaroslav, who lives in Kentucky. Now, the Boyechko brothers find themselves in the beleaguered European nation, trying to make an intolerable situation a little more bearable for as many people as they can.

“Hope for Ukraine, a New Jersey-based nonprofit organization created in 2016 to help children and families in the Ukraine with medical aid, has launched an initiative to mobilize support for the current crisis in the Ukraine by creating nationwide donation drops of locations for nonperishable food, medical supplies and clothing. Once the drop locations are filled, they are chartering cargo planes to fly aid to Poland and from there, use delivery trucks to different parts of the Ukraine.”

There’s also another crucial aspect of their mission: finding permanent homes for Ukrainians who have been displaced. That includes providing quality education to children and youth once they find permanent places to live either in the United States, or other safe countries that are accepting Ukrainian refugees.

In addition to collecting dry goods and clothing at their New Jersey collection facility and additional locations, the top priorities of their fundraising efforts are “to continue to provide three meals a day, daycare and medical care to 120 to 200 refugees a day,” as well as helping refugees in Poland find housing, open additional collection centers, and continue to have the funds to ship the goods.

There’s a personal side to Boyechko’s mission; their father was an imprisoned minister in the Ukraine before they came to the U.S. And the latest conflict – which Yuriy called “the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War Two – is tearing at their heartstrings.

“Our refugee center is located in Lviv, Ukraine, which is right on the Polish border,” Boyechko told Patch on Tuesday.

“The situation in Ukraine is worsening each day,” he continued. “People in the eastern part of Ukraine are now experiencing food shortages due to active combat. Right now, we are sourcing food in Europe to bring to Lviv. From there, we will send minivans with food (at least twice a week) to different parts of Ukraine. So far, we supplied food to the Odessa region, Kiyv region, Kirovograd region, Symu region, and Chernihiv region.”

“We are watching the biggest humanitarian crisis unfold since World War Two, so millions of civilians are without shelter, food, medical attention, and clothing,” Boyechko said.

“At the present time in parts of Ukraine, even if you give someone money, they cannot use it because stores are completely empty,” he added.

For now, the nonprofit is focusing its efforts on collecting medical supplies. In a few weeks, it will begin collecting donations for “everything else,” Boyechko said.

Learn more about Hope for Ukraine and how to help it with the current aid effort here.