Thoughts of her mother’s early life has Dianna Brigadier-Karwowski raising money to help under-siege Ukraine.
The Cobleskill woman is collecting goods that can be sent to St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Watervliet and then on to Ukraine. She’s also urging that donations be sent to the Watervliet church.
Ms. Brigadier-Karwowski’s effort is one of several Ukraine relief efforts locally; Christ the Shepherd Lutheran Church in Schoharie is another. (See related story.)
Ms. Brigadier-Karwowski’s mother was raised in Kyiv in Ukraine, and it wasn’t a happy childhood.
“She really suffered through the rise of Communism,” Ms. Brigadier Karwowski said. “The family lost land to Stalin.”
And then the Nazis arrived.
“She was taken to Auschwitz to work in the labor camp when she was 16.”
Her mother emigrated to the US in 1949, but Ms. Brigadier-Karwowski hasn’t forgotten the Communists and Nazis.
“They took away her childhood,” she said. “That’s my heritage, and that’s what triggered it for me.”
Horrified by the Russian invasion, Ms. Brigadier-Karwowski said Americans should take note of Vladimir Putin.
“He’ll stop at nothing. That’s what Hitler did,” she said. “Everyone should be concerned.”
The Times-Journal office on Division Street, Cobleskill, is a dropoff point for goods, especially medical supplies. Ms. Brigadier-Karwowski will take them to St. Nicholas Catholic Church.
The church has a website, www.cerkva.com-urlm, that has a button for monetary donations.
Contacted Friday, Olga Myshchuk was at the church and said online donations are welcome.
“The cost of shipping goods is tremendous,” said Ms. Myshchuk, who is from Ukraine.
Ms. Myshchuk recommended another website, 518ukrainians.com, that lists St. Nicholas and other Ukrainian churches in Amsterdam and Cohoes.
That website has a long list of items essential for Ukraine.