HOWARD, WI (WTAQ) — As the conflict in Ukraine rages on, those in northeast Wisconsin with ties to Ukraine are finding ways to cope, and ways to help.
Oksana Kobzar moved to the the Green Bay Area from Ukraine 20 years ago and says her entire family is still over there.
“It’s very hard,” Kobzar told WTAQ. “I called my brother…and my initial thought was to ask him to leave. To leave the country. But he said no. My brother cannot leave. He is 35 ,and all men between the ages of 18 and 60 cannot leave the country. He will stay there with his family, and they will defend the last inch of the country.”
Kobzar works as an English as a second language teacher at Bayview Middle School in the Howard-Suamico School District.
“People there are very united,” she said. “I think that when people are in that situation, you cannot panic. That’s the worst thing you can do.”
Kobzar is a part of Wisconsin Ukrainians, a group of Ukrainian Wisconsinites that originally formed in an effort to give their children Ukrainian language and cultural education. That group now raises money and supplies for Ukrainians impacted by the war.
“We didn’t expect the community support and help,” said Kobzar. “We’re now close to $15,000 that we’ve collected.”
That money was spent on supplies that started getting sent off to Poland last week, with the intention of bringing the goods into Ukraine from there.
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