Above, Ukrainian people gathered for a visit from the Common Man for Ukraine team during this latest mission to bring food, supplies and hope to those in need.
By ANI FREEDMAN, InDepthNH.org
Near the eastern front of the Russia-Ukraine War, the threat of bombs and deadly drones is constant.
Drone warfare and bombs have meant families, buildings and communities can be devastated in an instant. The team of New Hampshire folks on a four-plus-year mission to bring food and support to the mostly women, children and elderly in Ukraine drive under anti-drone netting, their convoy traveling from village to village, a common and necessary feature in this war-torn country.
At one gas station, the team stopped to buy themselves a watermelon. They used their Geiger counter to measure radiation as a precaution. The watermelon measured at 60 times the acceptable radiation levels.
This is life in Ukraine right now.
The Common Man for Ukraine team is greeted with a smile and gratitude. Courtesy photo
Even the sight of a bird causes Lisa Mure and Susan Mathison to flinch as they continue to take trips into the heart of Ukraine to provide supplies, food, and mental health support for those who need it. Mure, Mathison, Alex Ray, and Steve Rand are the heart and soul of Common Man for Ukraine currently on their 16th mission from New Hampshire. George Bald has joined them for his second volunteer trip.
Once in a secure area, they spoke this week with InDepthNH.org over Zoom about their experiences traveling to Ukraine and what it has meant to engage with the people and communities ravaged by war.
“It’s been a sad trip, but uplifting at the same time,” Bald told InDepthNH.org. Bald, who is well-known for his past work as the director for the Division of Resources and Economic Development, and many boards and commissions he has served on. He presently is an advisory board member for the Common Man for Ukraine.
“We probably got as close as 10 miles from the front,” Bald said via Zoom. “These communities live with war in their face all the time. They lose power and they’re a long way from larger communities, so getting food is not an easy thing. They were very appreciative.”
Video of George Bald from war-torn Ukraine this week of Common Man for Ukraine’s 16th mission.
“When we get into a community…There’s kind of a sad, drawn look on their face,” Bald said. “They’ve been at war for four and a half years, and some of the communities we’re in the past two days had been taken over by Russians.”
“They’re never away from the war. I admire tremendously the spirit of these people to continue to resist the Russian onslaught,” Bald added.
While it can be easy for Americans so far from the conflict to separate themselves from the harsh realities of life in Ukraine, the Granite Staters have made it their mission to provide support on the ground since the Russia invasion in 2022.
Mathison said they’ve taken trips as far as the far eastern front, “where children are living in deplorable circumstances.”
Being on the ground in these communities allows them to better serve them, Mure explained, as once they arrive they can better understand what people need most. She pointed to the five cookstoves they just bought for a refugee center that only had two—not nearly enough to cook for everyone there.
“It’s really bleak right now,” Mure said, noting the declining mental health and sanitary conditions at the refugee center.
Above, anti-drone netting can be seen on the road.
The Common Man Mission
When Mure and Mathison, along with Common Man restaurant founder Alex Ray and Steve Rand, first heard about the Ukraine invasion, they were compelled to do something to help the people of Ukraine.
“(Alex) said, well, the best thing we can do is go to Ukraine and find out what they need and how we can help. And so within a few days, we were on a plane and headed to Poland,” Mathison told InDepthNH.org in the midst of their most recent mission to Ukraine.
Common Man for Ukraine was soon formed, an initiative of the nonprofit Plymouth Rotary Foundation. Since 2022, the group has delivered more than 4.5 million pounds of food and critical humanitarian aid, in addition to hosting mental health retreats for the children and widows of Ukraine’s fallen soldiers.
Alex Ray, owner of the Common Man restaurants and co-founder of Common Man for Ukraine, is pictured providing not just food, but friendship as well to a Ukrainian woman during this mission.
The Power of Mental Health Retreats
The mental health retreat offers a rare reprieve for the families of those lost in the war, providing support and a sense of community for those most affected by the conflict.
Common Man for Ukraine and the Plymouth Rotary Foundation recently released a white paper detailing the tangible impacts of the retreat on the wellbeing of those who participate, with analysis of voluntary post-program surveys completed by 527 children attending the monthly mental health retreat in Zakopane, Poland (representing approximately 89% of children ages 8-12 who attended between February 2025 and July 2026).
The nonprofit organization found that nearly six in 10 children (59.5%) reported feeling happier or calmer after the retreat, while more than half (54.6%) felt safer, half (50.1%) felt more hopeful about their future, and 93.5% said they would recommend the experience to another child.
Despite those measurable improvements, just 13.9% reported worrying less about the families waiting for them at home, while nearly one-third said their worry had increased, indicating the chronic toll the war places upon these children.
Above, Kids get to be kids in this special retreat in Poland.
“[The retreat] allows them to be a child, but also to get the counseling and the help that they need to deal with the tragedy of losing their father or mother,” Bald said. “This will help them for the rest of their lives. The impact isn’t just momentary. It’s a long-term impact.”
The retreat also serves the purpose of bringing people together who are going through similar experiences, with findings showing over half (58%) of those who attended felt they had more peers they could turn to for emotional support.
Mathison said that despite being “in the face of danger” every day they’re there, and despite the mental and physical demands of the trips, she returns to New Hampshire more motivated than ever to continue helping.
“I come back invigorated and inspired to tell the story of the children of Ukraine to as many people as I can, to go to church groups and book groups and rotary clubs and women’s clubs anywhere in the United States to tell this story, to remind people of what’s happening in Ukraine and the lives of these kids,” she said. “It’s a privilege to do this work.”
Those interested in supporting Common Man for Ukraine’s efforts can donate at commonmanforukraine.org/donate.
“It never feels like work,” Mure said. “It’s never work to show up anywhere that people will have us and tell their stories. It’s kind of our obligation by traveling here to bring those stories back so that people can send in more funds to help the programs continue.”