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Sarasota team helping victim in Ukraine
Kimberly Kuizon reports
SARASOTA, Fla. - Alan Rybak is a director of Ukraine Aid Operations and gets updates by the minute from Southern Ukraine.
"It’s just terrible to see all this standing water in places," he said.
For the past year, he’s worked from Sarasota to help send supplies to troops on the front lines.
"We have a freight forwarder here in Sarasota, Florida that is working with us to get everything from here to Ukraine in about 2 or 3 weeks time, which is how we get most of our supplies over there. For immediate stuff we have a network of people who are flying over to Ukraine," he explained.
Since he started, Rybak has helped send more than 13,000 items from Sarasota to Ukraine.
Alan Rybak has helped send over 13,000 items from Sarasota to Ukraine.
Five million dollars in funds donated to the non-profit has helped purchase ambulances and drones for troops.
Rybak's mission has evolved after the Kakhovka dam collapse.
REALTED: Collapse of major dam in Ukraine triggers emergency as Moscow, Kyiv blame each other
"Those guys don’t necessarily have the proper equipment such as water filtration, hydration kits, water purification tablets and even small things like inflatable dinghies and rafts that they can help evacuate people and drop off supplies," he shared.
Ukraine Aid Operations has received five million dollars in donated funds.
Rescue missions in Ukraine have a new danger.
"The big problem now with the flooding is a lot of these mines have gotten up and floated down stream to other places. Some of them randomly blowing up now," he stated.
Rybak’s family is from Ukraine. He has contacts lined up, including his father-in-law that will hand-deliver water filtration items to the troops.
The Kakhovka dam collapse has created an even greater need for supplies in Ukraine.
"They’re essentially resorting to having jugs and gallons of water, and as the sediment settles, they pour it into another jug until they think it's safe to drink," said Rybak.
The supplies he helps to provide are badly needed.
"The people are really what they care about more than anything else and territorial gains are not important when you have people suffering in your own country," shared Rybak.
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