State College continues Ukraine aid efforts one year after invasion. Here’s how to help

A little more than a year after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the efforts to garner support for Ukrainians overseas and locally has stayed consistent in the State College area.

For the past year, community, church and Penn State groups have been fundraising and collaborating to inform locals about the war in Europe, whether that be in the form of monetary donations, shipments of supplies or cultural events.

Sister’s Sister, a local nonprofit organization led by its president, Svitlana Jones, is an organization currently making strides in forming a bridge between State College and Ukraine.

The State College Borough Council passed a resolution on March 6 to make State College a “sister city” with Nizhyn, Ukraine, “as soon as reasonably possible.”

There are still a number of steps before that officially happens, but State College is set to become a sister city with the borough’s support. This is progress since Jones started the organization last year.

Jones, who helped form the idea of Sister’s Sister with the Highlands Civic Association, said the idea came about when one of her neighbors expressed interest in supporting Ukraine.

“The same person said, ‘I don’t even know how to do it or whether it’s a good idea, but all I know is that I can’t just sit and watch TV without doing (anything),’” Jones said.

From there, Jones took on the role of president of Sister’s Sister and searched for cities State College could pair with — considering its size, population and demographics.

Jones is from western Ukraine and said she would have loved to pair with her hometown, but the organization was looking to support a city in northeastern Ukraine that had been directly impacted by the war.

Sister’s Sister decided on Nizhyn because of its size and the fact that it holds a university, similar to how State College has Penn State. State College has a population of about 40,000, and Nizhyn has a population of just under 70,000 and is home to Nizhyn Gogol State University.

“(Nizhyn was) under occupation at the beginning of the war ... when Russia was trying to capture Kyiv in three days,” Jones said. “They actually invaded Nizhyn, and then when they were pushed back by the Ukrainian troops, obviously there was fighting going on, and the city sustained damage ... so they need a lot of help.”

With focus on one city, Jones said Sister’s Sister also wanted to direct its fundraising efforts to a specific project in Nizhyn, and she spoke with the city’s mayor to figure out what needed to be fixed the most.

The nonprofit is first taking donations to help repair the boiler system that was damaged during the war. The boiler station controls the heat in every home, Jones said.

The $13,000 sent to Nizhyn so far has gone specifically toward buying new windows and insulation for the pipes in the boiler station that were damaged, and once Sister’s Sister can donate more, the money will go toward other things on the mayor’s list of repairs.

Jones said most of the money raised came from her neighborhood, so the hope behind establishing an official sister-city relationship is that State College will be able to fundraise on a larger scale to get more money to Nizhyn.

Hundreds of boxes of goods

While Sister’s Sister is looking for monetary donations, State College’s Salvation Baptist Church is collecting material goods.

Anna Jaltir moved to State College from Ukraine seven years ago and has been in charge of the ministry for two years. She had been collecting supplies and sending them to her family in Zaporizhya, Ukraine, before Russia invaded Ukraine last year, but now the efforts have increased.

Before, Jaltir and other volunteers were shipping about 300 boxes of items every three months to a baptist church in Zaporizhya. Now, they ship containers full of about 800 boxes to the city.

Jaltir collects food, clothes and anything people are willing to donate at the Salvation Baptist Church. At the moment, she’s looking for people to bring more medical supplies and hygiene products to help those affected by the war.

She said laundry detergent, medicine, baby formula and diapers are some of the most needed supplies currently. Food, however, is always a necessity.

While Jaltir said fewer people have been donating than they did when the news of the war was fresh, she’s grateful for “the angels” in the community who continuously think of what they can donate.

“It’s lovely,” Jaltir said. “It’s always encouraged me to see how they just support.”

Like Sister’s Sister, Jaltir is in direct contact with the people living in Ukraine, so she hears stories about how her boxes of supplies impact the families in Zaporizhya.

She said she heard of one woman who was about to have a baby but had no clothes for herself or the child. Although the supplies in each box are random, that family received a box filled with infant clothing and a maternity dress just in time.

“Thanks to everyone who’s participated in it. It’s a huge encouragement for me,” Jaltir said. “It’s bringing many blessings to the people’s life over in Ukraine and over here, because when we do something, it helps us here too.”

Efforts hitting closer to home

The Centre Coalition for Ukraine is another organization aimed to support Ukrainians, but its efforts are a little closer to home.

Philip Burlingame, a co-founder of the coalition, said the organization’s fundraising goes toward supporting two Ukrainian refugee families living in State College.

The Centre County organization is working with a California-based nonprofit called Ukraine Now that has been connecting with refugees and helping them find places to live outside of Ukraine.

People can make contributions to the Centre Coalition for Ukraine through the donate link on pamhi.org. So far, the coalition has raised about $6,000, but to house another refugee family, Burlingame said the coalition would need about $20,000.

“We’re really at the point now where we’re just trying to maintain funding for the families that we’re supporting,” Burlingame said.

On top of monetary support, Burlingame said members of the community and the Penn State Ukrainian Society have helped the families feel more at home with cultural dinners and concerts.

One such concert on Feb. 25 was a showcase of Ukrainian folk songs from the band Korinya, and all proceeds went to Sister’s Sister.

Michael Naydan, a Woskob family professor of Ukrainian studies at Penn State, helped organize the concert along with the Penn State Ukrainian Society. Naydan said Sister’s Sister collected approximately $5,500 from the donation jar alone, not counting ticket sales.

Because of the war, Naydan said there’s been “a tremendous amount of destruction of Ukrainian culture.”

The band played a variety of folk music and popular Ukrainian anthems to display the range of music that makes the culture unique.

“Music is extremely important for Ukraine,” Naydan said.

He and Jones said they’re hoping to hold a larger concert sometime in the summer, and none of the organizations involved in supporting Ukraine showed signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Burlingame said he’s been studying the concepts of empathy and compassion, and he said the efforts to aid Ukrainians in State College are good ways to turn the negative feelings of war into positive feelings of unity.

“It’s always helpful when you can try to do something positive,” Burlingame said.

How to help, find out more

Sister’s Sister: Monetary donations can be made through the organization’s website, sisterssister.org, or via checks made out to Sister’s Sister, Inc. and mailed to 357 E. Prospect Ave., State College, PA 16801

Salvation Baptist Church: Material items can be placed in the brown bin outside of the garage next to the church at 3645 W. College Ave. at any time during the day.

Centre Coalition for Ukraine: Donate at pamhi.org, contact the organization at coalition4ukraine@gmail.com