For over 30 years, the Ukrainian Heritage Society of Northern California has been known for its activities in support of Ukrainian culture in California. Over the years, active members of the Society have organized Malanka celebrations—New Year's festivities with traditional Ukrainian dishes and performances by Ukrainian singers and dancers—Shevchenko Academies, Ukrainian classical and folk music festivals for young musicians, summer Ukrainian festivals for Ukraine's Independence Day, days of remembrance for the Holodomor of 1932-33, and various exhibitions of Ukrainian art in schools in Sacramento and the surrounding area for the local public. Also, since the Orange Revolution, our members have been actively involved in various rallies in support of Ukraine and have helped raise funds for those in need.

But since February 24, truly difficult times have come for the Ukrainian people—a full-scale war has begun, and the head of the Society, Lyuba Yova, immediately proposed allocating a certain amount to the “Help Ukraine” Fund, and in a short time, kind Samaritans began to contribute to this fund. The Vietnamese organization Tu-Ai in Sacramento made a significant contribution. In early April, a representative of this organization called me and asked me to refer her to a Ukrainian community that could help transfer funds to those in need in Ukraine. Since I am a member of the Ukrainian Heritage Preservation Society, I recommended our society to her. Ms. Doan said that her friends were planning an event dedicated to Ukraine and asked me to attend. In early April, she announced that her friends had raised $7,000 for Ukraine, and when I came and performed with a bandura and a Vietnamese song, I received a check for $21,000! Then there was additional money sent by Vietnamese people, so we received $24,175 from them. This is the largest donation in the history of the Society since 1980! I was impressed by their generosity and gave them Ukrainian souvenirs—a souvenir bandura and a doll in Ukrainian costume—to which Anna replied: “Hello, Olya, thank you for the beautiful gifts. I will share them with other members of the group. We will continue to pray for Ukraine. Ukrainians are very strong people.”

Ms. Doan said that the fundraiser was the result of a collaboration between a group of dedicated volunteers led by Mr. Quang Nguyen and her organization called Tu-Ai Connect-to-Serve (Tu-Ai literally means Love-Compassion and Connect-to-Serve), which is a non-profit organization in Sacramento. She added, "Many Vietnamese-Americans in the US first came to this country as refugees as a result of the Vietnam War. These people have lived through the experience of war. Seeing what is happening to Ukraine, we had to organize something to help Ukrainians. We just wanted to be able to help in any way we could, through prayers and financial support, to show our concern, solidarity, and human compassion.“ Ms. Doan's husband, Dinh Nghia Bui, is a professor at a local college and was invited to host the event, which was called ”Love for Ukraine." He ordered a large decoration in the form of a Ukrainian flag, which depicted suffering faces and the inscription “Ukraine.” He prepared several questions for the audience about Ukraine, such as: “When did Russia attack Ukraine?”, “How many people currently live in Ukraine?”, “What is the name of the president of Ukraine?” — and the audience in the hall knew the answers to these questions. I was surprised that people knew so much about Ukraine, were concerned, and sympathized with us.

Several concerts were organized and performed by professional musicians Igor (violinist) and Mira (pianist) Velygani, who also made a significant contribution to the Ukraine relief fund. One of their concerts took place on April 2 in the beautiful Faye Spanos Concert Hall in Stockton, near Sacramento, featuring Ukrainian artists, the Stockton University Symphony Orchestra, and American professional musicians. The next day, San Francisco singer Ivanna Taratula organized a concert in the hall of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in San Francisco, which featured artists from Sacramento and members of our Society.

We are grateful to the Ukrainian Federal Credit Union, which always supports our Society, and this time they also transferred a substantial amount to our account, which we use to help organizations in Ukraine, such as Lviv Knight, Hospitallers, White Horvats, and we also support individuals who work as liaisons between organizations that help those in need. Our aid goes to various parts of Ukraine – Kyiv, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Poltava, Kharkiv, Chernivtsi, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and others.

In September, the Ukrainian Heritage Preservation Society received a substantial amount (over $40,000) from Micron Benevity, where the well-known Ukrainian singer Anichka, who is also an active person with connections that help our soldiers on the front lines, performed. The funds were used to pay for food for the people of Kharkiv, as well as for car repairs and many other projects. 

We would like to thank all our members and kind people who sent monetary assistance to our Society's account.