PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It is a difficult time for a nonprofit in Northeast Philadelphia that helps Ukrainian and Russian immigrants settle in the United States. The organization’s leaders are looking to help while also dealing with the stress of worrying about friends and family members in their home country.
Marina Lipkovskaya, the executive director of the New World Association, said there have been sleepless nights since Russia began its invasion.
“We are from Kyiv and it’s just a pain to see what is going to happen to one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” she said. “Ukraine is a wonderful country. Very hardworking people — but don’t touch their freedom!”
The organization’s offices are in a strip mall on Bustleton Avenue in a part of the city where many of Eastern European descent live and work. Staffers teach English and citizen prep courses.
“This is the country of opportunities so everybody is here to be happier and start their new life here,” said Irina Sapiro, the association’s education program coordinator. “People are against this war.”
On top of their regular duties running the organization, Lipkovskaya, Sapiro and the rest of the team are trying to come up with a plan to collect clothes and medical supplies that can be sent overseas to help refugees.
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“Including children in orphanages and families who left their places, their homes, without almost anything,” Lipkovskaya said. “All of us will be contacting our students, our clients, to see how helpful they can be, how willing they are to do that and I believe that the community will respond.”
Like others, Lipkovskaya and Sapiro are contacting their loved ones, grateful that communications have not been cut off and they continue to use apps like WhatsApp, Viber and Messenger.
“She texted me that war started in Ukraine and [Western Ukrainian town] Lutsk was bombed,” Sapiro said, referring to a chilling message from a childhood friend when the invasion began. “She said that the air force base that our fathers [were] stationed in years ago was bombed by Russians. It was a shock for me.”
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Lipkovskaya and Sapiro emphasized that the anger they share with so many others is not directed at the Russian people, but at Vladimir Putin.
“Today he wants Ukraine and tomorrow he may want Poland, Finland, Baltic countries,” Lipkovskaya said. “The world has to demonstrate unity against aggression.”