HAMBURG N.Y. (WIVB) – As the war wages in Ukraine and Russia furthers their invasion, a Hamburg couple is asking for the community’s help. News 4 caught up with Alina and Jon Pierowicz who are trying to get their loved ones out of the war torn country.
“It’s been extremely difficult for my family because they’re in Brovary, in one of the villages with the soldiers there. We don’t know what to do, we don’t know who to turn to. We feel extremely helpless,” Alina said.
Alina is originally from Ukraine and moved to Western New York when she was a child.
Alina and her father arriving to the U.S.
She still has more than a dozen relatives in Ukraine, close to where the violence is.
“Most of my family on my mom’s side still lives in Ukraine,” Alina said. “They are extremely scared of evacuating.”
With the war going on she’s had limited contact with her family there.
“The last four days or so it’s been in and out with reception, the service there,” said she. “A lot of the times when we can’t contact them, we don’t know if they’re still alive or if the family is no longer alive.”
Alina and Jon decided to help Alina’s family get out of Ukraine and somewhere safe and so they started a GoFundMe.
“We had so many people reach out to us, reach out to my wife Alina, asking what can we do to help,” Jon said.
The Pierowicz family says traveling to the border of Ukraine and Poland from where their loved ones are, is dangerous.
“When you hear stories of people that you know from their village going through something like this you end up fearing for their life and you don’t know what to do and having zero control here in America,” Alina said.
The couple says ideally they’d want to bring their family to Western New York.
“A desired outcome would certainly be an evacuation to Poland and then to America,” Jon said. “The difficulty, as my wife mentioned, is that our grandfather is in a wheelchair. Transporting anyone in a wheelchair is difficult, let alone in Ukraine, let alone through a war zone.”
The couple has raised more than $6,000 so far, which is going toward evacuation expenses, first aid supplies, food and clothing.
“These people were trying to develop their nation, live in peace and they deserve our support,” Jon said. “The bravery they’ve displayed in protecting their independence is something that’s worthy of our support.”
Alina is also a real estate agent and says 100 percent of the commission on her next closing is going toward helping her family and other families in Ukraine.