18 | MARCH 17 • 2022 

ter, water, heat or means of 
escape. They work together 
through WhatsApp, Telegram 
and other cell phone apps, while 
raising money to help support 
various projects.
“It’s a minute-by-minute type 
of situation,
” Feterovich says.
Currently, the network assists 
all areas of Ukraine: Kharkiv, 
Kyiv, Kherson and regions in 
western Ukraine where many 
civilians are escaping to get 
away from the fighting. The 
biggest needs, Feterovich says, 
are medical supplies and squar-
ing away logistics for those 
who need a place to live once 
they safely cross the Ukrainian 
border.
“Food is also becoming a 
need very fast,
” Feterovich says. 
“Where is the world? Why is it 
the private citizens that are left 
to do this? What is happening?”

PROPAGANDA MACHINE
In Ukraine, the concept of 
private property has gone out 
the window. Civilians share 
vehicles, homes, clothing and 
food with strangers, with the 
hopes of staying alive. It’s what 
Feterovich calls “one united 
nation,” where everyone is 
ready to protect their country 
and even more importantly, its 
people.
However, many Ukrainians 
have family members in Russia 
who struggle to believe that the 
war is real. 
“
As the Russian propaganda 
machine ramps up, the number 
one thing that people need 
to understand is that it’s on a 
whole other level,” Feterovich 
explains.
According to her contacts in 
Kherson, a Russian film crew 
was recently on the ground 
filming a fake film. “They’re 
pretending that the Ukrainians 
are meeting them with flow-
ers,” Feterovich says, “and 

they’re distributing them to 
citizens. People need to under-
stand this reality.
“Russian people that are in 
Russia, they don’t even know 
what’s happening,” she con-
tinues. “This is not a war of 
the Russian people. This is a 
war of the regime. There’s not 
a single independent person 
reporting in Russia right now. 
Everything has been shut 
down. Everything.”

UNIMAGINABLE REALITY
As they battle the propaganda, 
Feterovich continues to keep 
her focus on Ukraine. So far, 

she estimates her network has 
helped thousands of people — 
and plans to help thousands 
more. 
 “Communication is hard,” 
she says. “Everything changes 
by the minute.”
In recent phone calls beg-
ging for help, Feterovich has 
heard horrible stories: One 
city has 30,000 people trapped 
under rubble in basements; 
another has 3,000 children 
who can’t get through the pro-
posed green corridor to receive 
humanitarian aid. A third city 
has just one priest, with one 
car, driving civilians out of city 

limits to safety.
For the Soviet Jewish immi-
grant, who escaped religious 
persecution in the former 
USSR, where Jews had limited 
opportunity for career and 
educational advancement, 
Feterovich never thought 
something like this could hap-
pen.
“It’s absolutely surreal to me,” 
she says. “They can’t get help 
fast enough.” 

To help, you can donate to the 

Ukrainian-American Crisis Response 

Committee of Michigan at https://

tinyurl.com/2p8e5hyn; or EO Poland 

at https://tinyurl.com/mwtz2mc4.

Russians for 
Ukraine
An elderly woman being evacuated. 

Hasidic Jews in Dnipro 
who are ready to fight 
against the Russians. 

OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 16

