Nights were bitterly cold. The line of people trying to leave the country stretched for hours. At the beginning of March, Carson City couple Jon Staab and Lidia Karasinska got to see firsthand what “no man’s land” looks like between checkpoints along the Ukraine-Poland border. The pair spent 10 days providing humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees, who are fleeing their country after Russia launched an invasion on Feb. 24. “It is quite overwhelming to see how much help is needed,” Karasinska said. She added that it was hard to come back to the U.S. “You feel like you didn’t do enough. … You do cry after hours.” She’s a small local business owner, and Staab is an Army veteran with a background in politics. They moved to Carson City a year ago, but met in Poland, where Karasinska grew up. For them, the call to help was an obligation. Karasinska has Ukrainian friends in Poland. “(We realized) that no one is on the Ukrainian side, or ‘no man’s land,’ between the two check points. In those lines, people can be staying there for days … with everything they own,” Staab said. He and Karasinska spent their time passing out food and clothing, as well as chauffeuring refugees to safety. One family they helped had been struggling to find a ride to safety because they had a German shepherd. It hit home for Staab and Karasinska – they have two dogs of their own, and one is a German shepherd. Another woman was stuck waiting to cross the border with metal rebar piercing her stomach. Jon had to get creative to cut the line. “She had surgeries, a catheter, no pain medicine, and it still took me five hours to get through the border from the very front to the very end,” he said. It spurred him to buy an $11,000 ambulance for organizers like himself and Karasinska who are providing aid along the border. Though the couple returned only two weeks ago, they’ve already launched an organization to send more help to the Ukraine-Poland border, the Ukrainian Refugee Rescue. They’re working on getting certified as a nonprofit 501(c)(3). They built their team on-ground in Ukraine, finding volunteers who were willing to help them set up checkpoints to distribute supplies. “Our current goal is to help the Center for Humanitarian Aid of Sceginia … and focus on child refugees,” Staab said. But he and Karasinska are already planning for the years to come. With thousands of displaced Ukrainians who likely will not have a home to return to, Staab said that he would also like to support an incubator hub for refugees to seek psychological, legal, and career help. They’ll be returning to Poland and Ukraine in May to volunteer their time and hands again. Karasinska said that while the situation is dire, she’s happy to see how many people like her and Staab have joined in offering aid. “It’s a light in the dark that everybody could come and want to help,” she said. Staab said that he wished he could go back right then, that instant. For information about the Ukrainian Refugee Rescue, visit www.ukrainianrefugeerescue.com or email info@ukrainianrefugeerescue.com.
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