For the 10th time since Putin’s invasion in February 2022, we entered Ukraine again in late August to join Rotarians from Poland on food and supply convoys to the country’s orphanage and safe house system. For us – co-founders of the U.S.-based nonprofit Common Man for Ukraine – every trip is different. Every trip is sobering. Every trip is a privilege.

On this journey, we felt as always the strength of Ukraine’s resolve and spirit, particularly given the bravery of Ukraine’s forces over the last few months. We once again served as ambassadors of America’s support, bringing donations from all over our country, and especially from our little corner of northern New England, in the form of food, sleeping bags for the coming winter, and gifts for the children we will meet.

We traveled once again with an amazing force of Polish Rotarians who leave the safety of their homes and country each month, using their own vans to transport groats, canned meat and other necessities to hard-hit villages in the east. When we travel with them for days-long journeys we feel their commitment as strong as our own, we join in their camaraderie, and together we create a means for Americans to help Ukrainians half a world away.

On these convoys, we see what is sobering. We pass sandbagged checkpoints, see churches filled with photographs of a community’s heroes, and walk past shrines set up in town squares in honor of the soldiers. We visit farming villages where the fields are covered in mines by Russians, and drive by beet factories ripped apart by shelling, leaving the townspeople without the industries that sustain them. When we stop in our vans and hand out bags of food for the month, we are greeted with smiles and thanks, when it is we who are grateful for the privilege of meeting them, of being able to help in some small way.

On this trip, we also visited the Children of Ukraine Health Retreat which takes place just over the border in Poland each month to provide emotional support to the children of Ukraine’s fallen heroes. These retreats last for three weeks to give the children a respite from the air raid sirens and a chance to connect with other children going through a shared loss. They come with Ukrainian medical and psychological staff and counselors who lead activities that help them process their grief, and outings that give them a chance to experience and enjoy their childhoods without the worry of a war zone.

This is another privilege of our work – to meet these amazing Ukrainian children who are so full of talent, full of optimism, full of strength and full of joy. We are so grateful to know them, and so happy when they stay in touch with us over Viber, sending us notes after they return home. They are what is precious. They are the future.

It is easy to explain why we give our time and effort in America to raise money for these programs. America has that history of helping. But why do we travel there so much when the money can simply be wired to our Rotary partners doing the work week in and week out? We travel there to bear witness with our cameras and our hearts so that we can share Ukraine’s story firsthand.

These stories not only help raise funds for the convoys and the children’s retreats. The stories also connect us to the same truths: there is no one who escapes the agony of war, there is nothing more valuable than freedom, there is no greater good you can do than to help someone who is suffering, and the greatest expression of love across cultures is to show up and care.

So here we go again, planning for our upcoming 11th relief trip, privileged for the chance to bear witness and honored to be bringing love from half a world away.