Cousins chip in for Ukraine ambulance
Altoona residents help family buy vehicle to transport wounded soldiers
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After connecting with long lost relatives in Ukraine two years ago, several current and former Altoona residents -- as well as members of their family in Europe -- teamed up to deliver an ambulance to transport wounded Ukraine soldiers.
Eric Zajac said prior to 2020, the Altoona-born family didn't know they had relatives in Ukraine.
The discovery started when their mother, Rebecca, found an envelope from a letter from the 1970s that was written to their father, Frank.
Eric, who now lives in Villanova, said the letter came from Poland, where the family knew it had relatives. One of Eric's former employees, who is Polish, helped him find the relatives upon moving back to Poland from the United States.
The former employee did some research and realized she knew someone from the nearby town of Zabrze, from where the letter was sent.
Her connection was able to confirm that the Zajacs still had family there.
The Zajacs got in touch with their Polish relatives, who told them they had family in Ukraine as well.
The six Zajac siblings, four of whom still live in Altoona, and their Ukrainian cousins became acquainted over Zoom in 2020 and created a Facebook group through which they share stories of their families.
When Russia invaded in February, they used the social media platform to formulate a plan to support Ukraine.
Monica Zajac of Altoona said her heart hurts for the Ukrainian people.
"There's a lot of anger and heartache. (Russia) wants to destroy the country. They're destroying the infrastructure, they're destroying the culture and they're destroying their freedom," she said.
Then a way to help arose.
"One of our cousins reached out to ask if we here in Pennsylvania would consider donating to the effort in a specific way," Eric said.
The cousin, Galina Maystryshyn, and her husband, Igor, wanted to purchase an ambulance for the Khmelnytskyi Military Hospital to transport injured Ukrainian soldiers.
Igor traveled more than 430 miles to Slovakia to purchase the vehicle.
When he got to the neighboring country's capital city of Bratislava, he was short by more than $2,000.
Within 48 hours, the Pennsylvania relatives raised the money, and the ambulance was on its way to Ukraine.
On Monday, April 4, the emergency vehicle made it to the hospital, where a few of the Maystryshyn family's friends work.
The cutthroat conflict instigated by Russia is worthy of the world's attention anyway, Eric said, but for him, it "strikes a very personal nerve" because his family is at risk, and he's paying close attention.
"Like anybody, I'd be watching this and be moved to some extent, but having learned recently that I have blood relatives there, this has become personal to me," Eric said. "When I look at how bad things are there, with children being killed and innocent people dying in a ruthless way, it makes it very personal."
Eric recalled a Facebook message conversation with the Maystryshyns' son, Arsen, during which air sirens went off as Russia bombed a nearby area close to the Lviv airport. Arsen and his family were able to take cover in their basement and were unharmed.
While Lviv hasn't taken the brunt of Russia's assault on his country, Arsen said, the city has been bombed multiple times.
"We've offered whatever we can do to help them, including if they wanted to seek refuge here, but they're very clear that that's the last thing they want to do," Eric said. "Literally millions of people are leaving Ukraine, so I'm thinking to myself, they're not going to want to stay there in harm's way, so I reached out, but they were just immediately -- 'No, thank you.'"
"We want to stay here for sure because who else would be protecting our family and women and children that are here," Arsen asked. "We are Ukrainians; we don't want to leave our country, and, if it is needed, we will protect our country."
While some foreign observers consider a Ukrainian victory over Russia unlikely, the Maystryshyn family firmly believes it's the fight in the dog, not the dog in the fight, that will help Ukraine prevail.
"We are definitely convinced that the victory will be ours," Igor said. "We will protect all of Europe from these invaders, and we will win."
Arsen said he and his family will make whatever sacrifices necessary to defend their country, including taking up arms.
"If it is needed, we will go there," Arsen said of joining the frontlines. "The way we were raised, there is no reason to be so scared."
Arsen and his family are grateful for their American relatives' help and are glad they were able to connect.
"I'm very excited that I can talk to them and get to know what is going on in the U.S., and they also get to know what is going on here," Arsen said. "I'm really excited about that. A lot of them transferred costs so we could buy the ambulance faster."
"Every little bit helps," Monica Zajac said. "If I could go over and stop the missiles, I would, but of course, the reality is we can't do that. What we can do is acts of kindness and help at a humanitarian level."
Monica added she'd like to meet her Ukrainian relatives in person someday when it is safe.
"I worry for them, I'm very concerned for them and I share their outrage," Eric said. "Heritage isn't necessarily about borders -- it's about a human connection with your relatives, wherever they might be."
Mirror Staff Writer Andrew Mollenauer is at 814-946-7428.