SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Nataliia Onyskiv says she is concerned ‘every minute’ about her family in Ukraine. She has been in Georgia for about six years but says all of her family is in Ukraine.
“My entire family, my parents, my sister, my nephew, my niece, my cousins and my only grandmother that actually had a heart attack from all the stress and she can’t talk right now,” says Onyskiv.
Onyskiv is the head of the Georgia branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.
“We have around 19,000 Ukrainians in Georgia,” she said.
Onyskiv says she normally spends her time promoting Ukrainian culture and events. The website even has pictures of an event last year celebrating Ukraine’s independence. But now the images of Ukraine
cause pain and worry.
“My life will never be the same,” said Onyskiv. In one night, I became a different person. It’s a nightmare, the level of stress and how heartbroken we are. We don’t sleep, we don’t go to bed before the sun rises in Ukraine.”
Onyskiv said the organization decided last Thursday it had to do something to help so it began a fundraising effort.
“And we raised as of this morning total more than $50,000. We are very proud and we appreciate every single person that donates, prays or spreads the news.”
Onyskiv says her organization has contacts in Ukraine that will make sure the funds are used to help people.
She says her family does not want to leave their home but that others who may have wanted to leave are now “trapped.”
“I want people to know that we fight as much as we can here by raising money by spreading the news our heart is broken for Ukraine,” she said. “We don’t sit ad wait, we do everything we can.”