WGAN-TV Podcast | How Photographers can Help Ukraine17449
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 WGAN-TV Podcast | WGAN Forum Podcast WGAN-TV Podcast (Audio and Video) | Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Initiatives to Help Ukraine | Guest: Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Board Member and President Nataliia Onyskiv | Episode: 159 | Thursday, 8 September 2022 | www.UkrainianAtlanta.org WGAN Forum Podcast (Audio Only) Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Initiatives to Help Ukraine | Guest: Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Board Member and President Nataliia Onyskiv | Episode: 159 | Thursday, 8 September 2022 | www.UkrainianAtlanta.org WGAN-TV eBook | Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Initiatives to Help Ukraine | Guest: Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Board Member and President Nataliia Onyskiv | Episode: 159 | Thursday, 8 September 2022 | www.UkrainianAtlanta.org WGAN-TV | Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Initiatives to Help Ukraine | Guest: Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Board Member and President Nataliia Onyskiv | Episode: 159 | Thursday, 8 September 2022 | www.UkrainianAtlanta.org  2022 Atlanta Candle Light Observance/Vigil | Day of the National Flag of Ukraine | Tuesday, 23 August 2022 (Mason Mill Park, Decatur, GA) Candles: Coat of arms of Ukraine More Photos and Videos from this event. WGAN-TV Podcast | How Photographers can Help Ukraine Hi All, [WGAN-TV Podcast above / Transcript Below] What can you do - as photographers/videographers - to help Ukraine? Find out on in this WGAN-TV Podcast: ✓ WGAN-TV | Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Initiatives to Help Ukraine[/url] My guest will be Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Board Member and President Nataliia Onyskiv. Among my questions: What can we do to help Ukraine? (where ever you are!) (If you follow me on Facebook, you likely have noticed that I am a volunteer photographer for Ukrainian events in the greater Atlanta area and I create/like/share many social media posts about Ukrainian: particularly related to Ukrainian events in Atlanta.) Examples of My Volunteer Photos/Video Shoots 1. UCCA-GA-Everything will be Ukraine Concert 2. UCCA-Georgia Branch at Decatur Arts Festival 3. Atlanta | War is Not Over Rally 4. Ukraine | An American and Ukrainian Patriotic Program 5. Stand With Ukraine-The International Night Market Atlanta in Roswell, Georgia I also shoot 360 virtual tours - and 360 video - to help amplify the Ukrainian story: ✓ Everything will be Ukraine Concert ✓ Stand With Ukraine Rally in Atlanta on Saturday, 5 March 2022 (You do not need to be Ukrainian to help amplify the story in your market.) Best, Dan 360 Video | Stand With Ukraine Rally in Atlanta on Saturday, 5 March 2022 | Video 1 | Shot with Labpano Pilot One EE camera | Saturday, 5 March 2022 360 Video | Stand With Ukraine Rally in Atlanta on Saturday, 5 March 2022 | Video 2 | Shot with Labpano Pilot One EE camera | Saturday, 5 March 2022 Video: 2022 Atlanta Candlight Observance of the National Flag of Ukraine on Tuesday, 23 August 2022 | Speaker: Liudmyla Zapukhliak | Video courtesy of www.WGAN-TV.com Transcript [00:00:03] Dan Smigrod: What can you do to help Ukraine? What can we do to help Ukrainians? Stay tuned. Hi all, I'm Dan Smigrod, Founder of the We Get Around Network Forum. Today is Thursday, September 8th, 2022 and you're watching a special edition of WGAN-TV Live at 5. Our topic today, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Initiatives to Help Ukraine. My guest today is Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch Board Member and President Nataliia Onyskiv. Nataliia, thanks for being a guest on my show today. [00:00:46] Nataliia Onyskiv: Well, thank you for the invitation, Dan. It's my honor. [00:00:50] Dan Smigrod: Help me with your last name because I know I missed it. [00:00:53] Nataliia Onyskiv: Onyskiv. You did perfect. [00:00:56] Dan Smigrod: Onyskiv. Thank you, Nataliia. Nataliia, before we jump into the topic of today's show, I thought I would at least first ask you about your family, perhaps where they are in Ukraine and how they're doing. [00:01:11] Nataliia Onyskiv: Sure. Thank you for asking since this is the question that is in our mind all the time. We think about our family all the time. Luckily, my family is in Western Ukraine; which is in a safer area. To explain, Western Ukraine is the European part; the part that is closest to Europe. Close to the Poland border. All my relatives, parents, sister, cousins, grandmother, nephews, nieces, everyone, they are in Western Ukraine are relatively safe. However, physically safe: not mentally. Yes, they are Ternopil. [00:02:01] Dan Smigrod: They are in Ternopil, which if things were in normal times, it would be a drive [from Kiev] to the West towards Poland of about... [00:02:11] Nataliia Onyskiv: I would say, because my mother is originally -- and this is where my grandmother is and part of my family -- is next to the border with Poland. I would say from Ternopil -- It's hard to say because a Ukrainian drive is different from America. We don't have highways. It's usually a train or bus or car with the speed of 60 miles per hour. I would say probably an eight hour drive. [00:02:49] Dan Smigrod: I did hear that they're physically safe. Mentally, how do they cope with what's going on today? [00:02:59] Nataliia Onyskiv: There were some stages of accepting the reality; 'till they accepted the reality. In the beginning, it was a big rejection reality that I would call panic. Then, through the time of seven months, they accepted the reality. What can I say? My nephew is always scared. Children are probably more damaged mentally because it's hard for them to explain something. Of course, everyone wants them to be safe and cautious. The level of fear to the sirens is extremely big. I just talked to my parents today. School has started. My nephew is 7-years-old. He's scared to stay alone. I mean, of course, you can leave him alone, but he can even be in the room alone. He's scared of the siren. My parents are in the village. They left the city and how they cope, they harvest. They plant their vegetables. Right now it's harvest time. They distract themselves. They try to do what they usually do and they keep themselves busy. I know it's probably a little bit weird to say that some live their life in one part of the country when another part of the country is destroyed and people suffer; and get killed. This is something that being outside of that reality is harder for me to accept rather than for people that are in this situation. They live their lives. They need their routine. When you look at this situation: East and West are two different worlds. That's tougher for me for example. My grandmother, when everything just started, she stopped talking. She became numb. She couldn't say a word. She was in such stress. For older people, maybe it's harder because she's been through so much in her life. That being in her late 80s, it's hard to believe that something like this would happen in a civilized world. When she just wants to live her life and enjoy her grandchildren, she had shock: the shock stage when she couldn't talk for a while and my aunt, her daughter, she helped us to communicate with her because my grandmother, she wrote on a piece of paper, gave it to my aunt and she would tell us what my grandmother said. She lost her speech for some time. Now she talks. She, all good, again. She's recovering. But mentally, everyone is going through this very, very differently. [00:06:10] Dan Smigrod: Have any of your family members left Ukraine? [00:06:17] Nataliia Onyskiv: Yes. Some of my cousins -- female cousins -- left Ukraine with children. At this point, I'm not sure if they are back. I don t believe they're back. Most of my family members are in Ukraine. I would say probably 90 percent: everyone is there. First of all, it's easier for me to say because they are in Western Ukraine. Second of all, however, with this Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program, there are multiple ways to leave Ukraine. When I offered my parents at least to visit me, they refused. Some people don't want to leave their homes; even if they have this opportunity because it feels like for them, it's almost rejecting their faith in God. It's their home. No one has the right to tell them to leave that home. That's my personal observation based on what I have heard from my very close family and friends. This is for them, it's almost on a religious level. They wouldn't leave their homes and even though one of my best friend's mother actually spent a very long time in Kharkiv in the eastern part of Ukraine: the city right now that is basically fighting for its freedom at this very second. When everything just started, she was in the underground. She wouldn't leave Kharkiv. [00:08:01] Nataliia Onyskiv: Because she said to my girlfriend, I will only leave when the university I work for and my house collapses. It's very much a personal decision for people to leave their homes; at least for the people I know -- my closest friends. [00:08:19] Dan Smigrod: This is the city on the edge of Russia that Ukraine soldiers -- just announced today -- are taking back from Russia. [00:08:32] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. [00:08:32] Dan Smigrod: She's not leaving. [00:08:34] Nataliia Onyskiv: She actually already left. That situation happened in the beginning. Maybe during the first two or three months. Then my friend actually insisted for her to leave. She is in Poland right now. However, she's coming back to Ukraine to the Ternopil region. Of course, I was glad to hear that because it's my motherland and I offered her help in anything that she would need because her university in the Kharkiv area was relocating to a safer area of Ukraine so teachers can teach online. She's moving back to Ukraine soon to Ternopil: to Western Ukraine. It means that life is going on. People go to work. Education is coming back. Yes, she's coming back to teach to continue her education work. [00:09:36] Dan Smigrod: You mentioned a phone call. Is it easy to make a call or email or...? [00:09:43] Nataliia Onyskiv: Not for my friends that had to communicate with people back then when their relatives and friends were in the underground: no. I remember perfectly the first day of war when two girlfriends of mine from Kharkiv and myself. We happen to spend that weekend together on a trip [in the US] and I remember very well every minute of that fear she had because she couldn't contact her mother. [00:10:17] Dan Smigrod: This is February 24th, 2022. [00:10:20] Nataliia Onyskiv: Yes. That was the weekend we traveled. We had tickets planned on the 24th -- literally in the evening -- we had a plane to Arizona. That day -- and I'm probably jumping, Dan, please stop me if I'm jumping in the wrong direction -- that was the day when our organization [ACCA-GA], a non-profit, reacted so fast and we just started this fundraiser. That day, we decided that we'll go to visit our friend in Arizona, but that trip was 100 percent dedicated to the news; to the war issue problems; to communicating with other relatives; supporting each other. Each of us don't have family here and for us, we spent that weekend together; we supported each other. That was the main thing we did for each other; especially for our friend that couldn't contact her mother because she was in the underground. [00:11:25] Dan Smigrod: We'll come back to that fundraiser. In terms of family members, are there any male members of your family that are now participating as soldiers in ...? [00:11:41] Nataliia Onyskiv: Not family. Because most of my male relatives have families. They have children. I'm not going to tell you for sure how many children, but all of them have a minimum of two children. Because of that, they haven't been drafted. Of course my father, I don't believe he's in that age. They are not at war. However, I have friends that are there. Luckily, thank God, everyone is still alive. People I know personally. [00:12:37] Dan Smigrod: I'm glad to hear that. I can't even imagine what you go through every day. Is there literally a check-in process just so that you are able to check in with your family and friends to know that they are okay? [00:12:54] Nataliia Onyskiv: Yes. Those people that are in the war zone, they use some special apps right now. They don't communicate through Facebook or not even WhatsApp. They tried to use this app, Signal, that's supposed to be the safest way of communicating. That's the app that I could sometimes reach out to my friends. There are several of them, not that many, and I wouldn't get answers immediately. That would be very short. Like, "Yes, I'm okay. Thank you." [00:13:31] Dan Smigrod: Yes. [00:13:32] Nataliia Onyskiv: Something like this. But the rest of Ukraine is relatively back on the regular way of life. I would say, people try because war is happening. However, the economy also has to keep going. Factories in the area are online. Most of the people are online; if they're not in the underground. Regular ways are okay; are the ways we communicate. [00:14:12] Dan Smigrod: Okay. When did you come to the U.S. And what was the motivation? How did you end up in the United States and when? [00:14:23] Nataliia Onyskiv: I just had my eighth anniversary on the 23rd of August. I remember the day very well because of course, it's right before our flag day. It's right before our Independence Day. My sister has her birthday on Independence Day. I remember that it was the 23rd of August. I stepped on Atlanta's land. I came here to marry a man that I met back in Kiev. I moved to Kiev after graduating college in my city, Ternopil. I moved to Kiev when I was 21-years-old to build my career. That's where I spent six years of my adult life. My professional life. I'm very much attached to Kiev. Very much. Then that's where I met my ex-husband. Then I came here in 2014. Basically in Kiev I went through the revolution. I went through the revolution of February when Viktor Yanukovych escaped Ukraine -- our Euromaidan Revolution of 2013, 2014. I was a participant of that revolution in my office. My work was right there on the street in Kiev. I was right there. I still remember everything. Broadly, that's why I have stronger feelings about everything. Not stronger. It's not fair to say to other people, I just have my personal feelings about certain other things. Yes, back then, I met my ex-husband back in Kiev, then moved here. That's basically destiny that brought me here. [00:16:33] Dan Smigrod: Let's fast-forward eight years. Today, it is Thursday, September 8th, 2022. Let's jump into the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. What is that? And, then what is the Georgia Branch? [00:16:50] Nataliia Onyskiv: Of course. [00:16:53] Nataliia Onyskiv: Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch is a non-profit organization that was created in Georgia to promote culture and traditions among Ukrainian immigrants and Americans with Ukrainian heritage; and for everyone else that would like to get familiar with our culture and traditions. That's what we have been doing for the past five years with the team. [00:17:28] Dan Smigrod: That's the Georgia branch, but the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America goes way back. [00:17:34] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. My apologies. UCCA is a non-partisan, non-profit, that has represented the interests of Ukrainians in America since the 1940s. It's the oldest and the largest organization of the Ukrainian diaspora in America. That is the organization that was created many years ago. That's the engine I would say. These are people that resolve those issues on a political level. They consist of so many professionals that they would go directly to the government and write the letters and take part in the political life of Ukrainians in America. They would negotiate with the government. Of course, again, our main goal for the entire UCCA is to promote Ukrainian culture and unite Ukrainians in America. However, based on the size and tools that each organization may have, they have the most tools to actually make the biggest difference in Ukrainian life in America. [00:19:10] Dan Smigrod: What I'm hearing is the word culture. This mission of culture. Sharing culture. Bringing culture together. How did that change on February 24th, 2022 in terms of the initiatives of the Georgia Branch? [00:19:26] Nataliia Onyskiv: Tremendously. We were created to promote tradition -- culture -- through organizing fun events; through wearing our beautiful outfits; through laughing; dancing; and suddenly we have to deal with war. We don't know what to do. We had an immediate response to create the fundraiser. That was the start of this huge project that is still going on. Back then, we had our IT volunteer. I have to say her name just because she's a lifesaver, Anastasia Turner. She created the website. That day, she dropped everything and she created the page to collect money so we could get a fundraiser and it started! The first day, we collected $13,000. Each 24 hours, we collected so much money that it started to develop. Life changed so our goal definitely shifted; shifted completely. [00:20:33] Dan Smigrod: Let me just go back for a second. The website is: www.UkrainianAtlanta.org [00:20:47] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. [00:20:47] Dan Smigrod: That website, set up, the very first thing that you started to do was raise funds through the 501(c)(3) non-profit that the UCCA-Georgia Branch is? [00:21:00] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. That's a very important detail that we have the legal right to do. We are a 501(c)(3) organization and we had tools. We had a website where people could just safely pay with their credit card. Of course, life became chaotic. I cannot tell you how we – we would be always on meetings; deciding what to do; how to act; how to make it right. No one told us what to do during the war. We just knew that we had to do something, but we didn't know what. We adjusted our way of doing things multiple times as we went through the process. It became chaotic because people were calling us. Suddenly Ukraine became the biggest interest of everyone. I'm not talking about reporters because reporters tried to reach out to each of us to get any kind of information. We never had that exposure. We were so confused and lost, but at the same time, I had to put ourselves together and reply because we understood that's our responsibility that we did not choose. Suddenly, we represented – not the organization that three times a year gets together and celebrates the biggest events – we represent organization, Ukrainian community. It's a different level of responsibility when you have a phone call from government people. Everyone was trying to get a piece of information from us: what do we do first? We open up our laptop. Google "Ukraine Atlanta"... And, we came up [www.UkrainianAtlanta.org -- which is the level of interest and we had to come up with how to respond; what to say. Yes, in the beginning, it was chaos a little bit. [00:23:09] Dan Smigrod: I'm going to bring you back to that. But first, let's fast forward to today, seven months later, looking back at what the UCCA Georgia Branch has accomplished. Could you take us through the highlights of what has been accomplished in the past seven months? [00:23:31] Nataliia Onyskiv: That is an excellent question, Dan. Without any doubts, I am proud of what we have accomplished. I am proud of what UCCA Georgia Branch has become. It has always been a great organization with great values. However, the board of directors showed an extremely high level of competency; of professionalism; of talking to all the reporters; to all the government; to the people; banks; companies; everyone that we're trying to reach out to. We showed professionalism. That brought us to the level of being known. Because now, when we went for meetings with the local government. With Democrats. They invited us, we want to be met with the office of [U.S. Senator] Jon Ossoff. They reached out. We had an online meeting. The first bullet point, I would say, is the level of professionalism that each of us showed that brings our organization to an even higher level; to the level of a professional organization. Also, probably the main accomplishment is our fundraiser. We started the fundraiser with the help of our tools. We raised more than $400,000; around $413,000 we raised, as of today [8 September 2022]. All the $400,000 were spent. When I look through the spending report, this is what I'm proud of the most. [00:25:26] Dan Smigrod: I'm going to ask you two questions from there. First, how is the money raised? Specifically the kinds of activities? Then we'll talk about how the money was used. First, can you speak to examples of the UCCA Georgia Branch activities that resulted in raising the money? [00:25:53] Nataliia Onyskiv: Sure. I would say that most of the money came through [conversation]. Though I would call them not passive, but probably passive income when the website is still there and people just donate as they have the opportunity. That's the first source of income. Another source of income are companies that we reach out to or reach out to us. Companies that donate. Companies -- those are bigger donations. That is the result of the work of the board. When we take our phones. We write emails. We talk to people we know, or we may know, we reach out. That is not the hardest, but probably the major part of raising money. When we get on the phone call or on a Zoom meeting or a coffee meeting, we get bigger donations. I will give you an example. I had a coffee once with a couple: I would say our most loyal donors. Since the start [of the war], they reached out. We met for coffee. Till today, every single month, we receive a check for $10,000. They believed in us. They see what we do.Things like this [WGAN-TV interview]. Then of course, we have fundraiser concerts. We've done three big fundraiser concerts. One of them, on the 30th of April, our first one. It wasn't that big because we didn't have much space. [00:27:50] Dan Smigrod: This was in [the greater Atlanta area] Suwanee, Georgia? [00:27:52] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. We had around 100 people capacity [sold out] our first one. [00:28:03] Dan Smigrod: That was Everything Will Be Ukraine Concert! Everything literally was donated from the musicians to the facility, to the volunteers. That I want to say every dollar raised literally went to the cause. [00:28:20] Nataliia Onyskiv: 100%. Yes. Of course, I would like to say the event venue -- BRAVO! -- where it happened. It was free of charge. Musicians. Even the pastries we had from [Elena Grigorian]. [00:28:48] Nataliia Onyskiv: -I'm sorry, I can't remember her name because everyone deserves credit. [00:28:52] Dan Smigrod: -I'm going to ask you not to thank people individually, because I know we could do that for about 10,000 hours. [00:28:58] Nataliia Onyskiv: -Exactly. [00:28:59] Dan Smigrod: -I know that there are many volunteers that have been working with you side-by-side-by-side-by-side. [00:29:04] Nataliia Onyskiv: -Thank you for that, because if I miss someone, it will not be nicer for me. Every single dollar, unfortunately, I don't remember how much we collected. [00:29:16] Dan Smigrod: -So I want to say it was at least $10,000, and the concert came about very quickly. [00:29:19] Nataliia Onyskiv: -It was definitely like that? Oh, correct. [00:29:23] Dan Smigrod: -In a relatively small venue. Even beyond ticket sales for the event: merchandise and whatever else was contributed. [00:29:32] Nataliia Onyskiv: -Correct. Yes. Then we had another event in Buckhead - at Blue Martini Atlanta - where we had an auction of beautiful paintings from Kateryna Ivonina [and other artists]. She presented those paintings for the charity, and we sold several paintings and we collected --That event brought us around $6,000, [$6,000+ from ticket sales/auction]. I do believe maybe $6,000. Then we had, of course, our Independence Day. Independence Day was a combination of charity, and of course, since we had [a traveling Ukrainian band], we had some other obligations to cover. It wasn't a cheap and easy way -- [00:30:20] Dan Smigrod: -This would be a typical annual celebration of the Ukrainian Independence Day, where now the focus actually changed to bringing the community together and raising funds. [00:30:34] Nataliia Onyskiv: -Correct. Yeah. That event brought in around $10,000. Again, after $10,000, I would say, receipts from the Independence Day Concert because you will see that I'm slowly coming to the festivals and the merchandise selling. That is absolutely a different bucket that brought it around -- I believe Olga Gorman just reported around $57,000 [$54,146]. That's a separate bucket that is very, very valuable, because along with raising money, people also promote culture and traditions. It's a great combination of our mission and goals. [00:31:19] Dan Smigrod: -Let's take one particular one that comes to mind, and break it down. Do you have one of the events that you're thinking about? Maybe an international food market? Is there one of the events that comes to mind? [00:31:40] Nataliia Onyskiv: -The festivals. Probably the very first one. That was the one that I managed from the beginning until the end: International Night Market in Suwanee was the very first one in April 2022. [00:31:56] Dan Smigrod: -Okay. Awesome. The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch has a 10 foot by 10 foot booth space at the International Night Market in Suwanee. [00:32:14] Nataliia Onyskiv: -International Night Market. [00:32:16] Dan Smigrod: -International Night Market. What was the purpose of being there? I heard fundraising, but what were the other reasons that it was important for the Ukrainian community to be there? [00:32:30] Nataliia Onyskiv: -For the Suwanee, Georgia residents, we needed them to feel the presence of Ukrainians in their community. It is on such a -- we all know there are Ukrainians in America, but showing up in all the different festivals, it's physically showing presence of Ukrainians in each community -- county -- so people can feel that it's closer to them than they think. Because when you talk about this [war], it seems it's somewhere, but when you see these beautiful Ukrainians with these beautiful outfits that tried to raise money to help -- that you can actually talk to, and hear their story, that brings the presence of Ukrainians in American communities. That's how I feel it. [00:33:33] Dan Smigrod: Why was it important for people -- who perhaps have never met a Ukrainian person -- important for them to talk to a Ukrainian person at the event? What happened? [00:33:47] Nataliia Onyskiv: -Excellent question. Because we are Ukrainians and we are a different nationality from Russian. We are Ukrainians. We are not Russian. It's been a long history. For all this time of confusion when people would always mix our culture with Russian culture. We had to put a big fat dot in that period. We are Ukrainians. The events in Ukraine, it's proof. We had to show our culture and traditions, and make it very very clear; this is Ukrainian culture. [00:34:43] Dan Smigrod: Do you have any stories to recount about people that you met, who perhaps, we're meeting with a Ukrainian for the first time? [00:34:58] Nataliia Onyskiv: -Not me. I mean, for sure, people were going by, and they were all very happy to see the colors. They were all very impressed. I'm sure there were people that saw Ukrainians for the first time. I'm sure most of them saw this culture for the first time, because it was very colorful. [00:35:15] Dan Smigrod: -Yeah. I know that when I attended some of the events, my impressions were that a lot of people really just wanted to be able to say, "I'm so upset about what's happening in Ukraine, and I feel for you and your family, and how is your family?" There were connections being made where people wanted to share their outrage of what was happening and this was that opportunity to do so. Then there was always a glass container; and there was money being dropped in quite frequently. Then there was all the crafts and merchandise and artwork that was for sale. It seemed like there were a number of touch points of fundraising; engaging with the community; being able to share the story; and perhaps, even for media purposes; being able to provide a place for -- because I've noticed -- there have been some media interviews that have actually taken place at these events where UCCA Georgia Branch has had a booth. [00:36:25] Nataliia Onyskiv: -Right, 100 percent. Delivering the message is one of the most important things that we need to do. It's talking about war and raising money for war, actually brings a lot of attention. Probably for every person, it's something visual to see things versus hearing them. If they see there are people trying so hard, so maybe thinking, "these people know something that I don't know. Let me ask myself. Let me be curious a little bit more." [00:37:07] Dan Smigrod: -Do you recall in the past seven months, maybe, how many festivals or fairs or art events that you all have participated in? [00:37:18] Nataliia Onyskiv: -But personally, I stopped participating, me personally, because I have to say, I was very busy with documentation, because we talked about $400,000 spend, and that time flew so fast that I had to take care of that part. But it's probably not less than 10. Not less. [00:37:45] Dan Smigrod: -Yeah. It's been a number of fairs. You had the concerts, there's been a lot of rallies, which, I think -- [00:37:55] Nataliia Onyskiv: -Rallies, yes. Very, very powerful tool, but unfortunately people wouldn't support that much anymore. [00:38:07] Dan Smigrod: -I noticed you mentioned that you dropped off, because of some back-end things. (I want to refer to my phone for a second. Let me turn it back on so I can get to a specific item.) [00:38:22] Dan Smigrod: This was a post -- and I'm going to ask you about where the money that's been raised. I'm going to ask you that in a second, but before I do that -- this was a post in the Ukrainian Community of Atlanta -- a public Facebook group with about 4,000 members. Yet another Ukrainian organization in Atlanta. Tetiana Lendiel. Am I pronouncing that right? [00:38:52] Nataliia Onyskiv: Lendiel. [00:38:53] Dan Smigrod: Tetiana Lendiel, who is also a UCCA Georgia Branch Board Member, she is the Treasurer. She posted earlier today knowing that you were going to be on the show, she says, I'm going to ask you for your reaction. "Nataliia is a true locomotive. She makes the impossible possible and does all the back-office jobs that stays invisible to many. She takes the time from her own life to get a lot of processes set up and only under her leadership and professionalism, like no other it could be done.” “You not only need to want to do something, but you need to know how to do it and she has both. Under her leadership, UCCA Georgia Branch got set up and increased its footprint in Atlanta and in Georgia. I hope she will mention a lot of projects that UCCA did this year that were not public and all the efforts that UCCA has funded so local grassroots efforts could materialize." Do you want to comment on her comment? [00:40:02] Nataliia Onyskiv: Very nice words. [00:40:09] Dan Smigrod: It's a two part thing. I think she explained why you're not necessarily at each of those booths selling art. [She did!] There's all a lot that needs to be done behind the scenes. But obviously speaks glowingly of you and your effort. I think the UCCA-GA Board of Directors recognized you at the Annual Independence Day Concert -- on stage -- for all your effort and energy and much of it is actually behind the scenes. But Tetiana, she did mention that there's a number of things that may not have been promoted that UCCA has done. I think perhaps you've mentioned one of those is having coffee with a donor, who has now contributed $10,000 every month since Russia invaded Ukraine. Are there other behind the scenes things that come to mind to talk about? [00:41:14] Nataliia Onyskiv: Well, definitely constant meetings and negotiating. As I mentioned, the Democratic Party reached out to us. We had a meeting. They had some ideas in mind. Well, I will actually probably say something back about Tatiana. Tatiana as a board member. She also is an immigration lawyer. You can imagine what she did behind the scenes. People were calling her left and right. Very often she sacrificed her child, her family time to catch up on her work -- we all have jobs -- and answering people's questions because those are real people with real problems that need legal advice. Behind the scenes, each of us does a lot, probably by communicating; directing people. A lot of questions coming our way that we have to direct and resolve. [00:42:28] Dan Smigrod: Let's talk about money. You raised a lot of money. What was the purpose of raising the money? Where did it go? [00:42:36] Nataliia Onyskiv: That's where our goal shifted several times. We thought that war didn't start on the 24th of February 2022. The war has been going on since 2014. We had the Eastern part of Ukraine after the revolution, Putin didn't stop when we had the reelection of the President. He attacked East Ukraine. During this eight years of war in the Eastern part of Ukraine, there were multiple funds already acting in Ukraine that we could trust that were transparent. Our main goal was to collect money and send that money to these funds and let them do the job. As the war progressed, there was a period of time when there was a huge deficit in everything. When people were drafted left and right and the government -- for some reason -- we were not ready for that. We knew it would come; but not on that day. People wouldn't even have common things like uniforms. Having one of the UCCA-GA Board of Directors on the ground, we delegated to him to be our representative in Ukraine and he started to organize those shipments and find vendors to provide uniforms, shoes, some equipment, some gloves or knee -- All these things that seem for us like nothing special, however, because it seems like maybe they should have it from the government. However, those drafted men didn't have those basic things or maybe not good quality. That was our next period of donations when we actually started logistically delivering those supplies to refugees: medications or mostly for military people. Because during this time, I have to mention, I learned a lot about military tactics. One of the military men, and I don't know the name of their ranks in English, but some very well-respected man. He told me before, you save your brother on a battlefield, you need to actually defeat the enemy. That was something that I took for myself. If we don't defeat the enemy, we can't really help other people. My personal view was that I really supported that uniform or that tactical equipment and they all called them "their eyes" -- those monoculars that they could see at night. I personally -- deep in my heart -- I supported that way because we knew that we were given this equipment, this uniform and if they were given to 10 people, we knew exactly which 10 people. Of course, that became very difficult. I remember I would call the Czech Republic, I would find where to buy those monoculars. It's not like there was a manual, "hey, here you go, do this." You have to think, "Where do I get monoculars?" Google. Then you call these people then you try to find a delivery. Then you try to find people in Europe that would actually pick them up. Then you try to find a way to actually get it into Ukraine through the border. These logistics, it's very, very exhausting -- Go ahead. You had a question. [00:46:43] Dan Smigrod: I want to say. I recall there were walkie-talkies, if that's the right term? [00:46:52] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. Yeah. [00:46:55] Nataliia Onyskiv: Motorola walkie-talkies. Yes. That's the right way to say it. [00:46:58] Dan Smigrod: There may have been military grade first aid kits, I believe. [00:47:05] Nataliia Onyskiv: Yes. Those were one of those projects -- the biggest one -- was medical equipment. That project cost us more than $30,000: maybe $35,000. We bought it from Poland. We bought around four. They are expensive because it's [Vacuum-Assisted Wound Closure (VAC)] gear. We bought four VAC equipment, but the components had to be changed every single time for each patient. Those were the hardest to get and they were costly because we couldn't just give the equipment. We have to provide the entire kit so that it could save lives. That was a big project and a little bit stressful because we had to organize all the shipments from Poland. Then in Lviv, Ukraine a volunteer of ours -- because now it's like a net -- we all know each other and we all ask for favors if we need to. She helped to actually distribute everything in Ukraine to different hospitals. One went to Lviv hospital, two went to Kiev and one went to actually East Ukraine: I would say to the frontline, and we know exactly where they are. We have an act of goods received. We know exactly where they are. Then we had, of course, first medical aid kits. Amazingly, with the help of other members of the community, we found that factory that actually is Ternopil: in my town. They changed the entire workshop that they used to produce good quality bags. Those good quality bags, they had this fabric that was perfect for first aid kits because that had to be good fabric. They actually started to do that massive production. However, another problem was that a lot of fraud was starting to happen. Even in that factory, they were very careful about who to work with. Because I can take that medical aid kit: I can buy it for X amount of money, like for $50, that was the price we bought them for [and be careful that they were not resold for $100 because that's the market price]. They had to be careful. [00:50:06] Dan Smigrod: In terms of the monies in -- monies out, will there be a report on www.UkrainianAtlanta.org so that people can actually see all the monies raised and where it went? [00:50:22] Nataliia Onyskiv: I will tell you even more, that all the time the back office job that I have been doing, I'm an accountant. I am a CPA, so that's something that I do in my life. I'm good with numbers. All that activity requires a full-time job accountant. And we just don't get paid. [00:50:47] Dan Smigrod: I should point out. You are all volunteers that are in [100%] UCCA Georgia Branch and you all have real day jobs AND are volunteering. This is not something that you get paid for. I imagine as a 501(c)(3), you need to do a lot of reporting back to the IRS anyway. So all the records of where the monies went shows up someplace, either on www.UkrainianAtlanta.org in the government report or both. [00:51:19] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. We never dealt with that volume of data. That required purchase of an accounting system and actually maintaining that system and time flies so fast, that at one moment when you realize it's $300,000 spent, things have to be done in a different way. [00:51:41] Dan Smigrod: I want to move on to a different topic, but I just want to put a bow on it and just ask one more question because I understand the fundraising at the very beginning. Today though, the U.S. Congress approved the appropriation for something like $40 billion [May 2022]. Just today a U.S. representative, the highest ranking official to date to go to Kiev, today literally announced, I want to say $3 billion plus going to Kiev. I think as of today, $13.5 billion of the $40 billion has actually been distributed to Ukraine. Does fundraising continue to be something important at the grassroots level, and if so, why is that? [00:52:29] Nataliia Onyskiv: It's a question that I actually ask myself many times and each of us, because when we see all this help coming that all governments promise, we still get these requests. I don't think I have an answer why. But yes, it's an ongoing goal and there are always military divisions that always need our help. Plus, I need to explain what was explained to me, there are regular basic expense buckets in the military of Ukraine and some things that they call luxury are not budgeted. For example, the monoculars, the night vision devices, it's a luxury in this case. Drone, it's a luxury. Drones are $3,000, $4,000. Cars, the turnover of cars is crazy. Things that are not predicted by the government, that are not budgeted, that's what we usually get requests for. Generators. Just several days ago, we sent money to the fund that bought the generator for a Kharkiv division. There are things that I would explain are luxury and that's why we help get some very good quality Motorola walkie-talkies. They need exact Motorola walkie-talkies that you can actually listen to, that will work on a long distance, that will keep the battery charged. Things like this, we always consider. [00:54:18] Dan Smigrod: Still a need, and if any of our viewers want to make a contribution, they can go to www.UkrainianAtlanta.org and feel confident in that the UCCA Georgia Branch is a 501(c)(3) non-profit; has to do all the reporting back to the IRS and then you can take care of distributing either funds to other organizations in Ukraine or actual buying specific items and figure out the logistics of actually getting the items to the right places. [00:54:51] Nataliia Onyskiv: Well, logistics, that's the keyword because we just collect money and we send them to foundations in Ukraine that know how to get things and they deliver, but we definitely send them to funds we trust. How do they trust them? Because they would be referred to by community members. As the community fundraiser, we work for the community. When the request comes from the community member, that request will have that community member name. That's how we know and then I face-to-face, I talk to this fund and I know exactly how things are done in Ukraine. It's a very much restricted, directed help. However, we send it to the organization in Ukraine and that organization delivers help too. [00:55:40] Dan Smigrod: Awesome. Just switch topics a little bit. I'm looking at The Sunday New York Times Magazine. This is a multi-page story about Mariupol, I want to say Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theater that was bombed by Russia. Hundreds of people were killed. This was going back to the earlier days. Mariupol, I think another newspaper article from The New York Times today, I think literally says 90% of residential buildings were damaged or destroyed in the battle for the city, according to the United Nations, as reported in today's [8 September 2022] New York Times. These horrific things that have happened; are happening. That said, The New York Times Sunday Magazine says, "as Russia's war on Ukraine enters its seventh month, the world's interests in it inevitably diminishes." [00:57:05] Dan Smigrod: In another article in The New York Times just today, in a poll of Americans, "only 22 percent of respondents in the United States list Ukraine as a top three global issue." What is it that the UCCA Georgia Branch is doing to help amplify the story so that it doesn't end up on the back page of the newspaper or dropped off the TV news? [00:57:38] Nataliia Onyskiv: Well, first of all, of course, mass media is our best tool when we can share, when we don't forget our main holidays. I would say from what UCCA have done, it's first of all, it's Independence Day. It was a huge event for us because it was a very big event and the organizational part of the preparation was very much involved. That was something that was a huge success because we collected around almost 400 people. That means that we already attracted enough attention that 400 people showed up for Independence Day. A lot of them were not Ukrainians: they were foreigners. Of course, What we tried to do, we also do, maybe you already saw on Facebook, we are trying to open the Cultural Center where we would promote even more culture and we would talk to people to see and hear their feedback about what are the needs. [00:58:55] Dan Smigrod: Let's talk more about that. That's 10 am Saturday, September 10th, 2022. That's this Saturday. Ukrainian Cultural and Education Center, what is that? What's opening? [00:59:10] Nataliia Onyskiv: [Phone Rings] Excuse me. I thought I turned it off. [00:59:14] Dan Smigrod: Okay. If it's family from Ukraine, we can pause. [00:59:19] Nataliia Onyskiv: No. I'm so sorry. I was sure I was positive that I turned it off. [00:59:28] Dan Smigrod: So, 10 am Saturday, September 10th, 2022. That's this Saturday. The Ukrainian Culture and Education Center opens. What is that? Why is that important? [00:59:41] Nataliia Onyskiv: Thank you for this question. Because this is something that was on our mind for a very long time. There is a story behind this. It's been in our plans for a very long time. We were always busy with different things, and, of course, war happened, so we were mostly concentrated on war and fundraising and satisfying requests to help Ukraine. However, you know, everything has a reason that happens to us in our life. The Ukrainian school in Georgia that has been operating for several years under Nataliya Khomenko supervision, asked us in April to help them to find premises for their school. So we, of course, tried to help, and it's not that easy to find premises because we're talking about children. We're talking about education. It has to be well-equipped premises. There are a lot of standards. Of course, we don't have much resources to pay, so we were trying to find a good deal in a good place. Tetiana Lendiel, she is an alumni of Emory, and she actually was able to get those five beautiful classrooms in Emory well-equipped, free of charge. We have the classrooms and we already signed an agreement with the UCCA Georgia Branch and Emory. During this process, Nataliya Khomenko refused. She rejected this premise. I mean, not rejected. I would say she said the location is not good for her, for children. They found another premises somewhere in Alpharetta because that's where most of the parents of her students are. Which is okay if that's the preference of the children's families. But we felt like this is not the right decision, just to cancel the agreement and lose this opportunity of having these five beautiful classrooms, well equipped, given to us. This is a miracle. We decided to keep those premises. For those parents that maybe didn't have for some reason a voice on this decision to relocate the school, or for parents that or for people, families that are located in the area that for them, Emory will be more convenient. We are stepping up this cultural educational program, I would say, to serve the community, and we will serve them with what they are in need of. That's the purpose of the meeting at 10 am on Saturday. We want to collect all the families that are interested in that location, in that premise, that maybe see that as a prestigious way of introducing their children to a different standard because we all know Emory is an amazing school. Having the opportunity to go to that school once a week and just be in those walls and absorb the energy and maybe set yourself for bigger success in the future. That's the beginning of something big for us. [01:03:31] Dan Smigrod: Now this is both for children and for adults? [01:03:34] Nataliia Onyskiv: Yes. [01:03:35] Dan Smigrod: This cultural immersion in everything Ukraine. [01:03:40] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. That will be the purpose of the meeting. We need to understand the needs of the community. Maybe there are adults that would like to get together and do embroidery. Someone could teach them embroidery. Maybe someone could teach them how to knit or how to make their own. This is embroidered. That can be made by people: by us. [01:04:06] Dan Smigrod: This is part of a traditional Ukrainian outfit that you're wearing. [01:04:10] Nataliia Onyskiv: I am, yes. This is a Ukrainian outfit. This is hand made embroidery. Of course we tried to make this cultural center. We can't say it's a school, it's not a competition to the existing school in Alpharetta. It's an alternative for something different or for children that is a better location would be in Atlanta (Emory campus). [01:04:36] Dan Smigrod: The Greater Atlanta area is very large. For anyone that's outside of Atlanta, it's not necessarily a short drive to go from Alpharetta to Atlanta. [01:04:47] Nataliia Onyskiv: Correct. [01:04:48] Dan Smigrod: - I did have just a couple of other questions. I will speak a little bit about my community first though. We Get Around Network Forum (www.WGANForum.com)community is 20,000+ real estate photographers in 150 countries. Specifically, what is it that photographers, videographers can do that are watching today's show? What's the call-to-action to them wherever they live, of how they can help? [01:05:19] Nataliia Onyskiv: - Excellent question, Nowadays we live in the virtual world and literally, the online world. That's the efficient way to deliver the message and deliver that to everyone in the world. I'm really grateful for this opportunity to talk to you today because this is a video. It can be distributed in all different ways everywhere in the world. They can find out that there is this fundraiser they can trust maybe, or they want to come visit one of our events. Also, I will give you the exact example. One of the military divisions we held in Ukraine, they actually had a photographer in the hotspot, in the front line, making videos, making pictures, and making a story on their division, on their battles in order to engage people to donate and help them. That was a huge and powerful tool because people were, first of all, the photographer is famous, as you are. It was a big honor to us, that when you show our pictures, it means that you endorse us. Every photographer, especially those that are known and they have already been doing something in their career, if they show something, if they endorse something, it brings attention to people because you are a professional, well-respected professional. You will think twice before you post something. It's your work. If you decide to post us, it means for other people that are looking at your work, that it is worth attention. It's a huge way of delivering information. [01:07:15] Dan Smigrod: - I think in my case, I didn't wait for anybody to ask. I just feel horrible about what's going on in Ukraine. What is it I can do? I'm a photographer. There's a rally downtown Atlanta. There's a festival in Suwanee. There's a concert up in Suwanee. There's an event happening in Alpharetta. I just show up and I take photos and I shoot videos. I would say, looking back on the content that I've created, it really has probably done four things that I think about. First is trying to help amplify the story in a digital world. If those photos and videos get posted in, let's say the Ukrainian Community of Atlanta public Facebook group and those pictures get shared. First, is amplifying the story. The second which I really didn't realize, but just happened was many of the Ukrainian Americans have plenty of family that are in Ukraine and they're sharing those Facebook posts with their family, with their friends. Now people in Ukraine are responding to those posts saying, "thank you for all that all the Ukrainians are doing in the Greater Atlanta area to help us. We appreciate it." I think the third thing is when I take pictures at a let's say an art festival and then there's another art festival coming up that needs art. It needs a photo to tell the story. Photos from one event get repurposed to tell the story for the next event, as an illustration. I think one of the other things, we weren't going to talk about individual people because there'll be a million people to thank. But there is a member of the community in Atlanta, Olga Gorman. Olga attends nearly every event. She is noting every volunteer that has shown up. And then she typically takes the photos and videos that I have shot of that event or another photographer other volunteer photographer that's shown up: literally thanks everybody via Facebook. Every one of the volunteers who has contributed artwork or food or crafts, everyone who has volunteered to work that booth, anyone who's been involved in helping amplify the message on social media. She thanks people, and I think it's just great that the photos and video get used to thank people to just let them know their volunteer time is much appreciated. [01:10:12] Nataliia Onyskiv: - 100 percent that job cannot be under estimated to actually follow up and thank everyone. [01:10:21] Dan Smigrod: - I think as photographers, it's super-easy. Find an event that's going on in your community wherever that is in the world, and go document it and then go offer your photos and videos at no charge to the organizer of the event. Then just keep repeating that and just keep repeating that and repeating that. You'll make a difference in something that you just take for granted that that's your skill set to do. But it has such value to the Ukrainian community around the globe. Knowing that this show that's presently airing live in the Ukrainian Community of Atlanta Facebook group will likely be shared with family and friends that are in Ukraine. What message would you like to share with Ukrainians? I'm going to ask you if you don't mind, say that in Ukrainian and speak to your family, your friends, and all the Ukrainian people. What message would you like to tell them? [01:11:31] Nataliia Onyskiv: - In Ukrainian, right? [01:11:34] Dan Smigrod: - Yes. [01:11:34] Nataliia Onyskiv: - (in Ukrainian) [01:11:34] Nataliia Onyskiv: - I will start crying, so I will try to -- [01:11:48] Dan Smigrod: - It's important. They want to hear from the Board Member and President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch of what message you would like to send to them in their language. [01:12:09] Nataliia Onyskiv: - (in Ukrainian) [01:12:09] Dan Smigrod: - I'm Ukrainian American and I have no idea what you said. Could you share that with us in English? [01:14:08] Nataliia Onyskiv: - What I said was that Ukrainians in America -- and all over the world -- they don't stay aside. We tried to do what we can. It breaks our heart that we can't help physically. It's being away, outside of the situation it makes it so difficult because we can't. It's also difficult, I would say, that we can't just watch. We can do much. However, we found our way of helping. We raise money because physically we can do anything. If we can donate, we donate money and people that do the hard work could deliver the necessary supplies in Ukraine. Also, what I said is that us as Ukrainians, we have to carry ourselves with respect and total love to our surroundings. Because every person we meet on our way has to leave the meeting with us with the feeling of happiness and honor of meeting a Ukrainian. We need to present ourselves and think before we do something or say something because we don't represent ourselves. It's not I anymore. We represent the entire Ukraine and we need to make sure that our surrounding knows us at our best side. [01:15:43] Dan Smigrod: - Natalia, Thank you for being a guest on the show today. [01:15:50] Nataliia Onyskiv: - Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity Dan. Really you had excellent questions and I feel very sensitive right now because you dig into some memories. But thank you for that. [01:16:09] Dan Smigrod: - We've been visiting with Nataliia Onyskiv. [01:16:15] Nataliia Onyskiv: - Excellent. [01:16:17] Dan Smigrod: - Board Member and President Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Georgia Branch. I'm Dan Smigrod, Founder of the We Get Around Network Forum. You've been watching WGAN-TV Live at 5. Glory to Ukraine. [01:16:37] Nataliia Onyskiv: - Glory to the heroes. |
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