VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – The world has been watching what’s happening in Ukraine with shock and sadness. Thousands across the U.S. are taking to the streets to show their support, including a large group who gathered recently in Virginia Beach. For many who attended, the war is personal.
Hundreds marched at the Virginia Beach oceanfront Sunday with signs, songs, and desperate prayers. They hope to raise awareness and funds to help Ukrainians who are right now fighting not just for their country, but for their very lives.
“Every day we text him and make sure he’s alive!” said 32-year-old Olga who was born and raised in Ukraine. Olga now lives in Virginia Beach with her husband. She marched with her parents who came to the United States just two months ago, but her brother is still in Ukraine.
“Yes, my twin brother is in Kyiv,” Olga said. “And my son,” the mother chimed in with a look of fear and tears in her eyes. “And every day we text him and make sure that he’s alive and that he’s ok,” Olga said. “It’s the same with many people who are here, this is their life every day. We’re just praying for everyone to be ok, but it’s just hard to watch your city, your town to be destroyed,” she said.
Serhiy, who held a sign that read “We Stand With Ukraine – Close Sky,” is also worried about his brother who is in the middle of the fighting.
“Every morning I just call him and make sure he’s still alive and everything is ok with him. We need to stop the bombs and the rockets and everything, we just need to close sky,” he said, calling for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
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The rally was organized by the Tidewater Ukrainian School, a group dedicated to promoting and preserving the culture and language of the Ukrainian people.
Rally organizer Valentyna Sonmezler told us, “There are millions and millions of refugees who have been displaced there, we want to help them, we want to support them and let people in America know what is going on. Because right now Ukraine is a shield for Europe for Western values and for freedom.”
Among the marchers, Nataliya Khomyak with CBN’s Orphan’s Promise. She says many of their centers in Ukraine are now serving as shelters for refugees fleeing the war. The centers are equipped with mattresses, generators and non-perishable food.
“So this is such a miracle and a praise report that we were ready to receive the people and they have food to feed them,” Khomyak said.
Her prayer is simple – that her homeland will not be wiped off the map by a mad dictator.
“We really need to press the government to close the airspace over Ukraine because people are dying, some of my friends who are trying to get out right now cannot even get out because of the heavy shelling. So, I’m so happy to see that Americans are standing with Ukraine,” Khomyak said.
For now, marching, praying and giving to the war effort is all most people, including many Ukrainians here in the U.S. can do – as they continue to hope and pray for a miracle.
If you’d like to help, you can give to Orphans Promise or Operation Blessing. Both are on the ground helping war victims and refugees.
Donate to OPERATION BLESSING Relief Efforts in Poland and Ukraine
The Tidewater Ukrainian School is also collecting and sending support to Ukraine.
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