OUR COMMUNITY

R

ussian Five (2018) 
filmmaker Jenny 
Feterovich, a Soviet 
Jewish immigrant, is on the 
phone day and night orga-
nizing supplies 
and medical care 
for Ukrainian 
civilians stuck 
in the middle of 
war. One hour, 
she’s working on 
finding shelter 
for nearly two 
dozen orphans. Another, 
she’s assembling what she 
calls a “laundry list” of first-
aid items, like bandages and 
tourniquets, for Ukrainian 
soldiers and civilians injured 
in attacks by the Russian 
forces. “I’m getting phone 
calls from various groups,” 
Feterovich says, “and they’re 
saying, ‘I need x, y and z.’ 
Through our channels, we’re 
getting things delivered.”
The Bloomfield-based 
filmmaker, who immigrat-
ed to Metro Detroit from 
Moscow in 1989, has strong 
ties to Ukraine. Her wife was 
born in Crimea and lived in 
Kyiv for most of her life. 
“This is highly personal 
to me,” Feterovich, 46, says. 
“We have friends, family and 
people who work for us [in 
Ukraine].”

As part of a global net-
work of people assisting 
Ukraine in its fight against 
Russia, Feterovich works 
with contacts in Germany, 
Poland the Netherlands and 
more to get people to safety. 
“In real time, I’m helping 
people either get out, get 
situated once they cross the 
border or helping people 
inside the country,” she 
explains. “It’s all-hands-on-
deck.”

THE SITUATION IS 
‘MINUTE-BY-MINUTE’
In the city of Kherson, which 
became the first major city 
in Ukraine to fall to Russian 
forces, there is only one man 
left baking bread for a popu-
lation of nearly 300,000. 
“He’s baking 24/7,” 
Feterovich describes. “We’re 
on a mission to support him 
so he can continue to feed 
the people. Unfortunately, 
there’s not enough Red Cross 
on the ground. It’s regular 
people that are trying to 
accomplish these things.”
The global network that 
Feterovich belongs to was 
assembled on a whim, she 
explains, going up in a mat-
ter of days ready to assist 
millions of Ukrainians 
trapped without food, shel-

A global network is sending 
Ukrainian civilians supplies, 
battling Russian propaganda.

Local Effort 
Effecting 
Change

Jenny 
Feterovich

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jenny Feterovich 
at a protest March 
6 in Hart Plaza

continued on page 18

16 | MARCH 17 • 2022 

