Ukraine native sends supplies, hope to her besieged homeland
When Russia first launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, people across the world looked on with a mix of horror, anxiety and uncertainty. Rather than being a distant crisis unfolding on the other side of the globe, for Valentyna Pavsyukova, a resident of Fairchild and an immigrant from Ukraine, the attack on her homeland is a personal tragedy that she shares with the millions of Ukrainians currently involved in the conflict. Now she, along with the support of the Catholic Diocese of La Crosse, is working to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine to help them through this difficult time.
The founder of the Chalice of Mercy organization, Pavsyukova came to the United States from her home in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine back in 2002 at the age of 18. Not knowing any English at the time, she said she was guided by her grandmother, who had once advised her to pray in times of difficulty.
“I grew up in a family that did not have the faith,” she said. “My grandmother had taught me the Our Father just in case God exists. She said ‘In times of difficulty, pray that.’ I moved to the U.S. at 18 years old and I struggled. I did not speak English at all. Life was very hard at that time. I remembered what my grandmother had taught me and God became present to me and touched me deeply.”
After that revelation and gaining a connection to God, Pavsyukova said she was able to find her purpose in life: to help her people back home receive the medical care they needed. To that point, she founded the Chalice of Mercy in 2007, which began to raise funds and collect medical supplies to send to Ukraine’s hospitals.
“I wanted to become a missionary and wanted to go to Ethiopia,” she said. “But everyone has a romantic view of missions. Mother Theresa said, ‘It is easy to help others from elsewhere, but where is your home?’ I realized my mission is my country Ukraine. We worked to improve hospitals in Ukraine, purchased medical equipment and other things. We shipped tons of medical supplies to Ukraine. But always at the heart of the mission was to help people understand the Sacraments and to help them through these real actions to come to know the love of God the Father.”
Even as the Chalice of Mercy continued to grow and have a positive impact on the people living in Ukraine, events began to unfold within the country and with its nextdoor neighbor, Russia. In 2013, tensions began to boil over in the Donetsk and Luhansk territories in the eastern regions of Ukraine, and Pavsyukova said Putin began to seek more and more power in that region even as Ukraine’s desire to join more western countries grew.
“Ukraine became independent of the Soviet Union in 1991,” she said. “We had not been very independent after that, we always depended on a Russian leader in the past 30 years. They have always kept a hold of us and don’t want to let go ... But Ukraine has slowly drawn away from Russia and we have become more independent and strong. We have our language and it is Ukrainian, our culture, our traditions that are a part of our country. Putin came into office and he did not want to let go. He made sure we had officials that catered to Russia. In 2013 Viktor Yanukovych was elected and obeyed any word that was given to him by Putin. People in Ukraine could no longer insure and in 2013 the Revolution of Dignity started. It started with the young people protesting but it grew and it overcame the president and he was removed. Then there were riots in Donetsk and Luhansk and there were pro-Russians that wanted to become a part of Russia. Then Putin annexed Crimea and now he is willing to bite further. He wants to see if Ukraine will give in. He ran into absolute resistance.”
This resistance though has been costly to the people of Ukraine. In their fight to maintain their freedom from Russia, Pavsyukova said there have been numerous casualties among the fighters, civilians, women and children in Ukraine, infrastructure has been destroyed, and those left in the wake of the destruction face an amount of destitution that leaves many at death’s door.
“More than 200 hospitals have been bombed with people inside,” she said. “Countless villages do not exist anymore. Fifty important factories that were very important for Ukraine have been destroyed. There are people who are dying every single day. Women, children, infants, babies in the womb and pregnant women. This is a genocide on Ukrainian people. For those that are living in occupied areas, some cities don’t allow them freedom. There are no lights, electricity, food or water. There are people dying of dehydration. This is not going to stop anytime soon.”
All of this coming tragedy was quickly realized by many -- including the priests and the bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse -- as Russia first invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Not content to just sit by and watch, they began with the first thing they knew they could do: pray.
“That first week when it started we were all watching it unfold,” said Rev. Greg Michaud, the pastor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Neillsville. “I had been praying privately and thought that we needed to have a holy hour, we need to pray as a family. I called an impromptu holy hour on Friday of that week (Feb. 25). I didn’t know how or what could be done. We started doing holy hour every day for Ukraine and we will continue to do so until this thing is no longer happening.”
From that initial hour of prayer, Rev. Michaud said the first plans to help the people of Ukraine began to unfold. He reached out to Pavsyukova -- whom he had already
Please see Ukraine, page 14 known through Chalice of Mercy -- that same day and asked if she would be able to come by St. Mary’s to say a few words to those present.
“I got a hold of Valentyna and sent her a text saying that we are praying for Ukraine, we are praying for your country, your family, your friends and you,” he said. “I told her that she was always welcome to come to the church to pray and if she was able to make it, if she wanted to say anything. She came with Fr. Dan Thelen (pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Fairview) and she talked for about a half hour and what she was beginning to provide with the Chalice of Mercy.”
As the people around her continued to pray, Pavsyukova began to formulate what to do next. Her phone was ringing off the hook from people asking about ways they could help Ukraine. And with the connections she had established between Ukraine and the people from the Diocese of La Crosse, she knew she had the means to get the people the help they needed.
“My phone crashed from all the phone calls from people asking how to help,” she said. “It has been easy to reach out to people as quickly as possible, but not so easy to organize all the logistics and various things that go along with a shipment of this humanitarian aid.”
Within the next week, plans were already in place to begin the first collections of donations. Through the Diocese of La Crosse, the different churches from around the area counties would collect items from parishioners and others who wanted to donate. The exact items donated, Pavsyukova said, varied from parish to parish. In the Loyal, Greenwood and Willard parishes, a general list of medical and humanitarian supplies for the general population and soldiers were sought. In Neillsville, they collected camouflage hunting clothing and other tactical gear that could be used by the fighters defending Ukraine.
“The relief effort was very fluid,” said Rev. Michaud. “I had the opportunity to go over to St. Joseph’s in Fairview, that is where she (Pavsyukova) goes to church, and she has been working with Fr. Dan (Thelen). They were in the early stages of getting this started. Val said, ‘Father, I need your help. You’re a hunter, we need clothes, new clothes for our fighters.’ I came back and we started going around and asking for gear, for people to either purchase new gear or bring in some of their camouflage hunting gear, military gear or whatever. We made a collection center and said, ‘Here is what we are trying to get.’” The response to the call for aid was immediate. “We were immediately flooded with clothing and tactical gear,” said Rev. Michaud. “The outpouring of clothing was immense. Just with hunting and military style clothing and gear I filled my half-ton pickup truck. It has a six and a half foot bed and that and my back passenger seats were full.”
All the items that were collected by the churches in the past couple weeks have since been taken up to Mc-Donell High School in Chippewa Falls where the items were sorted, boxed and placed on pallets. In total, about 63 pallets worth of supplies were delivered to the school. From there, Pavsyukova said the items will be shipped to Poland, where it will make its way across the border to Ukraine and ultimately to the people who need it on the front lines.
“Right now we are in an extreme hurry to deliver humanitarian aid to the various regions in Ukraise,” she said. “The donations are being collected at the school in McDonell, the principal there has given us one of their gyms for this purpose and we hope to ship the supplies very soon. From McDonell it will go in a truck to New Jersey where it will take a plane to Poland. The items on the list are medical items that will be sent to the military hospitals to help those who are injured in the fighting and the soldiers. Baby formula is being given to the kids and orphans. Clothing items will be used to keep warm the men and women.”
So far, Pavsyukova and Rev. Michaud said the outpouring of support has been astounding.
“It is amazing to see how many churches have contributed,” said Pavsyukova. “We have thousands of pounds of items we are preparing to ship. I am just swollen with pain and prayer for my people. We see help and humanity here for each other in this horrific time. It’s like a tsunami.”
“That’s a yes and a no,” added Rev. Michaud when asked if he was surprised about the support they have received. “People by nature want to help. St. Thomas says that we never chose sin for sin, we chose sin because we want some good. We chose good, by nature we want good. I knew this parish (St. Mary’s) as a seminarian and now as a pastor, it is the nature of this parish to want to help. And yet as all this stuff came in I thought, ‘Gosh look at all of this stuff.’” The support being given to the people of Ukraine right now, Pavsyukova and Rev. Michaud said, is critical for their survival.
“It is really critical that we give them the best quality of clothing that we can, both new stuff and stuff that we would be planning to use ourselves in this coming hunting season and not something just laying around in the closet,” he said. “Because that hunting gear will be doing good. This may keep us warm on our hunts, but this is life and death for them. This is going to help keep them warm.”
“We are fighting to win and amazing things are happening,” added Pavsyukova. “Soldiers over there are asking us to continue to pray for them because they can feel it, they are strong. My cousin is over there fighting and my uncle is also fighting. They are going out there without bulletproof jackets or necessary equipment. The majority of the men are facing this and facing the cold.”
Now that the first shipment has been gathered and sent, Rev. Michaud said it is a matter of continuing to pray and waiting for the next call for assistance. It may be some time before Pavsyukova receives word on what the next needed items will be, but for those still eager to help, they can prepare or donate monetarily.
“There will be a second shipment,” he said. “I don’t know all the elements right now and I don’t know if we will be shipping something similar to what we did or if they will need something else. On the normal side, have ready what you think we might need. Don’t bring it now, we don’t want to start collecting items that we will not be able to send over there. In the immediate future, you can donate monetarily to the Chalice of Mercy and they will use the money to purchase new items and clothing. Just be prepared to help out if necessary. And especially, we need people to pray, pray and pray.”
To donate to the Chalice of Mercy, go to their website at www.chaliceofmercy.org.
