It’s been nearly 3 years since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The brutal war has been pushed off the front pages. Westporters — who have contributed over $300,000 to our sister city, Lyman — are thinking about other things: Israel and Gaza, Harris and Trump, gardens and parking lots.
But Ukraine is never far from Mark Yurkiw’s mind.
The Westport artist’s parents emigrated to the US from there, in 1949. They had spent years in displaced persons’ tent camps.
As a teenager during World War II, Mark’s mother was enslaved. For almost 50 years, the United Nations paid slave labor reparations to her.
Mark Yurkiw
Mark was born in New York, but his first language is Ukrainian. He has followed the news from his parents’ homeland closely, and fearfully. He knows its history well.
Mark has been a driving force in local efforts to raise funds, clothes, toys — and awareness — for Lyman, and the nation.
On October 15, he will travel again to Ukraine. He has 3 objectives.
One is very specific. The country needs more chest compression bandages. They are vital to save the lives of people suffering gunshot wounds.
Christine Antal — who grew up in Westport — and her husband Mark organized a team of former Green Berets who deliver bandages to the front lines, and teaches soldiers how to use them.
Mark asks for donation, so he can deliver as many bandages as possible. There is a discounted price of $10 each, for orders of 100.
Ukraine Aid International — the non-profit founded by Westporters Brian and Marshall Mayer — accepts donations for those bandages.
Click here. Then, under the “Designation” drop-down menu, select “Medicine & Medical Equipment.”
“Every $10 saves a life,” Mark notes. “Every $1,000 buys a bundle that saves 100 lives.”
His second objective involves a meeting with Ukrainian Postmaster General Igor Smolyansky.
Mark will present him and his team with an artifact from the “Titanic” movie: a miniature lifeboat, created for the filming.
Smolyansky — a Georgetown University graduate — has “transformed the Ukrainian post office,” Mark says.
“He has turned the culture of postal workers into a true civil service organization.
“They deliver lifesaving medicine, equipment, food and pension checks to those who are unable to get out of harms way.”
He also delivers something no other post Office has ever done: hope.
“Since the invasion, he and his team have chronicled in a series of stamps events of the war in a way never done before,” Mark explains.
Those stamps have become world renowned, and sought after by collectors to raise money for Ukraine.
A few of the many Ukrainian stamps.
The stamp that inspired Mark to bring the Titanic lifeboat was “The Bombing of the Crimean Bridge” — designed even before it was bombed.
Smolyansky used the iconography of the Titanic movie. The stamp was released the day the bridge was destroyed.
Mark will present the lifeboat, with this message: “You and your team are the lifeboat for Ukraine.”
Mark has installed an exhibit about the Ukrainian stamps at the Westport Senior Center. It will be up all month long.
And — tying those 2 objectives together — donations to purchase bandages can be dropped off at the Senior Center.
Ukraine exhibit, at the Westport Senior Center.
Mark’s third goal is to meet with many of the old and new friends and organizations he has been in touch with since the invasion began. He hopes to meet with the Ukraine Aid International team on the ground too.
Mark will spend 3 weeks in Ukraine. He will travel with the best wishes of Westporters, who have supported our sister of Lyman so generously and well.
And, Mark reminds “06880” readers once again, the need to help the entire nation is still strong.
Great article, Dan, for friend and Westporter who works tirelessly on behalf of peace and safety of Ukraine. whoever can help should help in anyway they can.