Common Man for Ukraine volunteers for the most recent mission from left: Steve Rand, Lisa Mure, Alex Ray, Carmen Kruse, Susan Mathison, George Bald, Alice Chun, a Polish Rotary volunteer, and Ryszard Luczyn are pictured in a sunflower garden. Specific villages aren’t identified for safety reasons.
By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
George Bald decided he wanted to help others and see first-hand how Common Man for the Ukraine works so he volunteered recently for the group’s 13th mission to feed children in this war zone in spite of the danger.
Bald, a former commissioner for the state Department of Resources and Development, couldn’t get over both the continuing need to help feed and encourage the children of Ukraine, and how efficiently Common Man for Ukraine delivers on its promise to do so.
Traveling through the Ukraine and handing out 30 days worth of food mostly for children and the elderly in villages along the front on their 11-day journey, Bald got to feel first-hand what Ukrainian families- especially the children – have felt daily since the Russians started bombing three and a half years ago.
“It’s amazing how these people have to live with the threat of bombing all the time,” Bald said near the end of his journey.
“This is for the children,” Bald said. “One of the things that really struck me is how the Common Man for Ukraine is just doing magnificent work here.”
After first visiting a camp in Poland for Ukrainian children who get to have a get away from the war for a few weeks, Bald then travelled with the group driving across Ukraine to the front. On the way, Bald was struck by the sights and sounds of war – funerals for two soldiers and how their families and communities honor them in villages and local cemeteries.
“We went to some of these small towns. There were tears in their eyes. They were so happy that they haven’t been forgotten. They really needed the food and of course it was almost all women, old women, children and old men that are in line to get the food.
“But there were some smiles as they passed out gifts to all the kids. It’s always around,” Bald said of the impact war has on the children. “The kids are frightened of drones.”
“I spoke to a soldier that told me the Russians try to bomb between midnight and 2 a.m. or between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. because it’s dark and they think it’s more difficult on the Ukrainians. For young kids, it’s just very, very difficult.”
One of the high points of the trip was the stop in Poland where Common Man for Ukraine sponsors regular retreats for 30 children at a time whose fathers have been killed in the war.
“They have some awesome talent there. The teachers are all really top-notch; the woman who runs the program is a pediatrician.
“It is unbelievable what it does for the children. The Common Man for Ukraine is always doing follow-up. Their quality control is unbelievable. They follow up with the kids and their mothers and universally the answer was it made a big difference in the child’s life.”
One woman said her daughter wouldn’t go near water or visit her father’s grave, but was able to do so after the retreat. Her mother couldn’t believe the change.
Bald said he and the Common Man for Ukraine team were in one city where there was Russian bombing on the other side of the city.
There were 15 vans filled with food and toys for kids. In the convoy, all were volunteers including all the truck drivers. “Nobody was paid. It’s just super efficient. Polish Rotarians helped to bring the food. I realize how super efficient Alex Ray and his team have made this effort. The operation really is amazing,” he said.
Bald said one woman teared up talking about how New Hampshire people hadn’t forgotten them.
“The next morning before we left we went to visit where three rockets had slammed into the center of the city. There was a memorial there and half of the people killed were children. The Russians are so indiscriminate.”
One badly damaged building was a business incubator. “We’re not talking about anything that has remotely any military value. That’s what the Russians are doing and these people have to live with that all the time.”
On his 75th birthday, Bald was honored in song.
“I’ll never forget the Common Man team and all of the Polish drivers singing Happy Birthday to me. It was just amazing,” Bald said.
When President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were going to meet in Alaska during the team’s stay in Ukraine, they asked local people what they thought.
“They just shrugged and said ‘nothing’s going to change.'”
“The war continues. I can’t tell you how horrible it is the things they do there. We really couldn’t use phones or Wi-Fi in the war zone,” Bald said. “I’m heartened by what the Common Man for Ukraine is doing.”
“You can’t come with the Common Man team and not have your life changed,” Bald said.
Donations can be made here. https://commonmanforukraine.org/donate. Checks can be made out to Common Man for Ukraine may be mailed to: Common Man for Ukraine, c/o Plymouth Rotary Foundation, 71 Main Street, Plymouth, NH 03264 USA
Common Man for Ukraine is an initiative of the New Hampshire-based nonprofit organization Plymouth Rotary Foundation, 501c3 EIN 59-3841932. Our grassroots, volunteer-run organization delivers humanitarian aid, including food, and trauma counseling to Ukrainian orphans, displaced children, and families struggling to survive this war.