TOP: Demonstators in Detroit don the colors of the Ukrainian flag. continued from page 15 MARCH 10 • 2022 | 19 ment organizations, JFS will be working with other commu- nity organizations, churches and synagogues, donors and government organizations to support families escaping from Ukraine. Leonid Balabanov, JFS’ director of transportation and translation, is one of many with family members affected by the situation. Balabanov’s wife’s family has been in Kyiv throughout the conflict, including her mother, father, brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their two children. Balabanov says they’re talking with them every day to make sure they’re fine, but it’s still hard to under- stand what’s going on. Balabanov says his wife’s family has slept in an under- ground parking structure. “It’s explosive there. They’re afraid,” he said. “If air raid sirens are not sounded, they go back to their apartment.” The family is unable to flee because his mother- in-law is homebound in a 24-hour senior facility, which is seeing problems itself. “The facility is running out of food and medications. My brother-in-law is doing his best to supply whatever he can find to help everyone at the facility,” Balabanov said. Balabanov’s brother-in-law cannot leave as Ukraine isn’t letting men ages 18-60 leave the country. “They can fight. They won’t let them leave,” he said. It’s a heartbreaking situa- tion for the family. “My wife is crying for the last four days,” Balabanov said. “I don’t know how to explain what we feel. We do not understand how it could happen, and why. I cannot even understand it.” Balabanov and his wife attended the Detroit rally for Ukraine on Feb. 27. “We were there. We went to support Ukraine, ” Balabanov said. “I was very happy that people were supporting our country. There were a lot of American people supporting Ukraine, some Russian people supporting Ukraine and some from Lithuania supporting Ukraine. I was surprised. It was a lot of people there. ” Balabanov says his brother- in-law and sister-in-law are under a lot of stress. “They fear for my mother- in-law and the kids, and hope for international assistance to end this insanity,” Balabanov said. “I hope they’ll be alright.” YEVGENIYA GAZMAN @YGAZM C l i c k . C a l l . G i v e . A p p l y . www.hfldetroit.org • 248.723.8184 Hebrew Free Loan Detroit 6735 TELEGRAPH ROAD, SUITE 300 • BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICHIGAN 48301 @HFLDetroit Community donations help Hebrew Free Loan give interest-free loans to local Jews for a variety of personal, health, educational and small business needs. STORY My STORY My Sophie Silverman has been aware of Hebrew Free Loan since childhood, both from family members and because she’s a close friend of the daughter of HFL’s Executive Director. “I heard about it, but I don’t think I absorbed it,” Sophie said. “Growing up, my friend group didn’t discuss finances, even as we got to the college application process. Our focus was on what we wanted to study and where we were accepted, not how we were paying for it. I think if I could, I’d go back and tell High School Me to look into HFL for some of those undergrad expenses, and possibly replace some loans with interest-free loans.” Where HFL did enter her life personally was at the end of her college career, when she applied to grad school. “In my initial plan for school, I didn’t figure in the cost of a graduate program, but I applied, and was accepted,” Sophie said. “I wanted to specialize and get my Master’s degree in Public Health. I also knew it was very important to me to live near school and have the full experience, not be a commuter or a part-timer. That made things more expensive, but Hebrew Free Loan and the William Davidson Jewish College Loan Program made the last piece of the puzzle fit, and allowed me to be part of this program. “I know, interest-free loans sound too good to be true, and you think there’s no way it could be that easy, right? But there’s no catch. It was easy, personal, and far from intimidating. HFL was amazing.”