‘Every life matters’: Lake Forest couple from Ukraine organizing relief efforts for their homeland

CHICAGO (CBS) — They’re 5,000 miles from their homeland, but they’re organizing relief efforts for a country in crisis.

A Lake Forest couple, both from Ukraine, are coordinating humanitarian aid to help other Ukrainians. CBS 2’s Jackie Kostek sat down with the couple to hear how they’re doing it.

The couple has been working almost around the clock to get donations together and make sure they are delivered to Eastern Ukraine.

 And even though they are doing what they can to help, Stella said she wakes up every morning with pain in her chest, not sure if her friends made it through the night.

“When she goes to sleep, she prays to see the sunlight in the morning because they’re doing a lot of bombing and this morning, when she woke up, there was no water.”

For Gene and Stella Volchenko, watching their homeland come under attack has been both surreal and acutely painful.

Now living in Lake Forest, the couple decided they had to help.

“My city, where I was born, I will never walk those street again.”

The Russian invasion stirring Gene to consider going back to fight, but ultimately his daughter’s suburban wedding stopped him.

“Our daughter is getting married April 30th (of) this year. She started crying, she said you are not going back, she said, who’s going to walk me down the aisle? And I said, ‘I can’t stay here.’ I said ‘this is the first time in my life I felt completely helpless.'”

A former merchant marine, Gene could not stay helpless and connected with his military friends still in Ukraine. They settled on a way to help.

 Gene would send $10,000 to his friend Alex, who would buy an ambulance. He and another buddy would load up the van with food and medical supplies in Poland to deliver in Eastern Ukraine. There, they would load up refugees to drive to safety in Poland.

“If you look at the route from Kharkiv to Poland, all of these yellow stars, this is where the bombings are.”

The ambulance on its third 800-mile trip this week. And on Wednesday, there was good news came from a Polish leader hoping to help.

“He is able to get us 1,000 negative pressure wound vacs from Scandinavia to take to Kharkiv where people are waiting for surgeries.”

Essential medical aid for a city in desperate need.

“Every life matters.”

 The Volchenkos have already invested $10,000 of their own money to this work. They’ve also fundraised about $17,000.

Listed below are sites accepting donations for the Volchenko family:

*Zelle: [email protected]

*Venmo: @Gene-Volchenko

*Paypal: [email protected]