Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Illuminating Hope: Rotary's Solar-Powered Support for Ukraine's Resilience
What if a simple device could be a beacon of hope in times of despair? Today, we have the privilege of sharing Andy Lennick's extraordinary journey—a story rooted in personal history and a commitment to making a difference. As a child of Ukrainian political refugees, Andy's life has been deeply intertwined with Ukraine. Through Rotary, he has led remarkable humanitarian efforts, including distributing solar panel-powered USB chargers to bring light and connection to communities affected by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Andy's story is a testament to the power of Rotary's global network and the incredible impact of one individual's vision and compassion.
But the challenges faced by Ukrainians go beyond the need for power; they require resilience and solidarity. As we navigate through their struggles, we explore the "Working Together" project, which has provided much-needed solar panels to soldiers and communities suffering from electricity shortages due to relentless infrastructure attacks. These solar panels are more than just a utility—they carry messages of hope from around the world, serving as symbols of strength and unity. Additionally, the establishment of "invincibility centers" in educational institutions ensures that the light of knowledge continues to shine, despite the shadows of war.
We express our heartfelt gratitude to our listeners for joining us on this journey of hope and resilience. The strength of the Ukrainian people, bolstered by international partnerships and the unwavering support of organizations like Rotary, Sunflower Seeds Ukraine, and the Peace Corps, showcases the profound impact of global solidarity. As we wrap up this episode, we reflect on the meaningful connections we've shared and the inspiring stories yet to come. Thank you for being part of the Heroes of Hope community. We look forward to sharing more tales of courage and upliftment in our future episodes.
Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast. I'm your host, judy Zolfakar, proudly serving as the current District Governor for Rotary District 5330. Co-hosting with me is Jamie Zinn, our esteemed immediate past District Governor. Heroes of Hope brings to light the remarkable stories of impact from Rotarians within our district. Our episodes shine a spotlight on transformative community projects taking root in our region and extend their reach to initiatives making waves on a global scale. Each story is a testament to the profound influence Rotarians exert on the lives of individuals and communities we are committed to serving. Join us in this inspiring journey. Dive deeper into the world of Rotary with us and witness firsthand the extraordinary ways in which Rotary touches lives and reshapes our world. Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast, where hope takes center stage and the heroes are the Rotarians among us, turning vision into action.
Speaker 1:You know, as Rotarians, jamie, we get the great opportunity of not just going to club meetings but also going to meetings that are either Rotary International or our educational meetings at Zone Institute. And this last Zone Institute I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting one of our guests today. Andy and it's kind of one of those fun things because it was a friend of mine said hey, andy's looking for you. He's in your e-club. You may not know him, but he's looking for you and he's wearing this shirt with a you know a sunshine on his shirt. And then they told him well, you're looking for Judy. She happened that day I just happened to be wearing a cowboy hat for Calgary, in support of Calgary. So these are how these connections are made when you have, you know, 600 people in the room or in this conference that you're trying to connect. So so glad to connect with Andy and we're glad to welcome him and his friends to have this conversation today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is great, and the E-Club of World Peace, which Andy belongs to, is a very dynamic club within our district, very vibrant, yes, and growing, and we're anxious to hear about this because people will say, hey, how can an e-club do service projects? An e-club can do service projects, they can make connections, and so with that, I think we should turn it over to Andy to introduce himself and let's get the ball rolling here.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Welcome Andy. Please introduce yourself and tell us why you're here today.
Speaker 3:Thank you, and thank you for that vignette about how we passed each other in the hall and recognized each other. I saw you with the cowboy hat. I said are you Judy?
Speaker 4:And she said yes, I am Yay.
Speaker 3:So my name is Andy Lennick. I'm going to say it in Ukrainian also it's Andrii Lennich. I don't expect you to be able to say that, but my parents were political refugees from Ukraine after World War II, so I grew up immersed in the language and the culture. I was kind of programmed for all the work that I do now, although I didn't realize it at the time. And my introduction to Rotary actually came in high school when the local Rotary Club in Hyde Park, new York, home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, honored National Merit Scholarship winners. Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so what is this Rotary thing? And I joined Rotary in oh my God, it was probably 40 years ago and honestly, it was sort of to promote my career. I was just getting started and then I realized that service above self was just a wonderful thing and I got immersed and I'm a four-time club president. Somehow I've managed to avoid the district level work that, Judy, you do.
Speaker 1:Well, we've still got time, Still got time.
Speaker 3:Okay, but when the war started and I had done something crazy and joined the Peace Corps after I retired, so I lived in Ukraine in 2017 and 2018. And one of my counterparts was a Rotary Club there in Ukraine. It was sort of an experiment because I knew the language, knew the culture. So instead of having just one counterpart, I had three, and one of them was a Rotary Club, and my work there with that Rotary Club led me to the district level and it was actually one of my projects was to bring Ryla back to Ukraine and that was a multi-year project and there are a number of Rotarians that are working on it.
Speaker 3:But let's fast forward to February 24th of two and a half years ago and the invasion in Ukraine and I had been running what's called Zoom calls Roman would come on to those calls and it was basically just to have my Ukrainian friends in America rather in Ukraine practice their English language.
Speaker 3:And then, as things heated up, the discussions became more global, like what is going on here, and I was really worried and my friends in Ukraine were eerily calm.
Speaker 3:And I was really worried and my friends in Ukraine were eerily calm, but you know, it hit the fan when the tanks rolled and I was just shocked and I was very fortunate that somebody brought to me a project to convert solar panels, use solar panels, get them out of the waste stream and then convert them to USB chargers. And I knew that in Ukraine cell phones were a lifeline for many people and I was able to and I saw the value of this project and I was able to send some panels. The very first ones went to the Rotary Club of Nibiru International, which is the largest Rotary Club of Nubiu International, which is the largest Rotary Club in Ukraine. And I want to mention here that Rotary has grown in Ukraine since the war started because it is such an effective and efficient organization in distributing humanitarian aid. But I started with the Rotary Clubs in Ukraine Nubiu and then there's another one in Lutsk and my distribution network was really primarily my friends in the Peace Corps.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:I just made some unbelievable friendships. I've kept in touch with people and as we started producing more and more of these panels, I would contact Roman and Ida and some other people and say, can you use these? And it was really sort of a circuit that I would go out and speak to different Rotary clubs, collect money, and then we started having these large conversion events. We've produced not just the group that I work with here in the Boulder, Colorado area, but right now it's 11 Rotary Clubs across the country that have replicated this project. That was my other goal make this project replicable, and the people that have been producing these panels have sent over 500 of them so far.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's great, and maybe we can have Rowan introduce himself and talk about what kind of impact has this project had on your region and what's going on in Ukraine.
Speaker 4:Sure. So my name is Roman Oleksenko. I work for the Peace Corps, but in my spare time I also work. Well, not work, but I volunteer with a non-profit called ukrainian action, which was founded by a former peace volunteer, um. In the first days of the full-scale invasion I joined the active duty, I enlisted or re-enlisted rather, um. Later on I was transferred to a uh, to the reserves and the volunteer formation, the community volunteer formations, but I can be called in the active duty depending on the situation on the front lines.
Speaker 4:I'm currently living in Kiev, in the capital of Ukraine. I have a wife and I have two boys and every night we hear the air raid sirens and have power interruptions. But this is something that all of Ukrainians have gotten used to. But you can never get used to the anxiety, the feeling of uncertainty if we talk about areas in the central and western parts of Ukraine, because if you go closer to the front lines, the situation there is quite different.
Speaker 4:There's much more destruction that you see on every block. There are fewer people out in the streets, there's anxiety, there's misery, there are people fleeing the war and a lot of military trying to protect the civilians who are still there, who don't want to move, but my story with Andy's project. I mean, I'm grateful to the Rotary Club and we've partnered with them in multiple situations, I'd say. And from Andy and his Rotary Club members we've received dozens and dozens of solar chargers which my friends and I have distributed among the civilians, civilians and educators who work with children all over Ukraine, not just in the, you know, in the central Ukraine or the western Ukraine, where Andy had served as a volunteer, but also in the villages close to the front lines, including one of the de-occupied villages close to the front lines, including one of the de-occupied villages.
Speaker 1:So these stories are very moving and I'm grateful for any type of support that the American people can provide to Ukraine. Well, we're happy to do so and, andy, we have another wonderful guest that has joined us. Why don't you go ahead and introduce?
Speaker 3:We do. She is also a dear, dear friend and I do want to make a couple of comments after Ida. But Ida was my Ukrainian teacher. We trained for three months in the northeastern part of Ukraine, an area called Cheneyiv, which has been decimated and just the resilience of those people are amazing. And then after that, I was assigned or posted to southwestern Ukraine, the opposite side part of the country. But Ida and I have remained very close friends and we talk.
Speaker 3:In the first days of the war she sent me a video. It was from a security camera and it's this idyllic night snowflakes are falling and all of a sudden you hear this screeching and then a huge explosion. It's a 30 second video and it was a bomb, a rocket that hit the civilian fuel depot in the village where she lives. And the next day we were talking and she was crying and she said to me her last words, which are just imprinted upon my soul don't let the world forget about Ukraine.
Speaker 3:So all the work that I do with solar panels and everything else, it's so that the world does not forget about Ukraine, because my view is that Ukraine is fighting on behalf of the entire free world. It's an apocalyptic situation. It's light versus dark, it's good versus evil, it's dictatorship versus democracy. So this is my motivation and I could not be more proud of my friends there and just the citizenry, and we cannot let the world forget about Ukraine. So I'm going to introduce Ida. She is an educator and a mother and just an amazing person. Ida, if you could unmute yourself, please, thank you.
Speaker 5:Thank you, andy, for all your kind words. You always make me blush a little bit. So yeah, that's actually how Andy starts each conversation which I join, but still I feel a little bit embarrassed.
Speaker 1:You're well-deserving. Embrace it. You're well-deserving.
Speaker 5:Embrace it. Yeah, I hope everyone, and I'm really glad to join this meeting and I want to thank on behalf of all Ukrainians who feel your support. And we still believe that we win. We still believe that we win.
Speaker 5:But I should mention, from what I see in my community, in my area, I should admit that after such a long period of the war like actually more than 10 years, but this horrible and full-scale invasion, after these more than 900 days, some people more and more, unfortunately, are starting to lose some belief in our victory, because I think the worst for people is to feel that they are losing support. And at the very beginning of this full-scale invasion, ukrainians were very like, very united and very optimistic and you know like we, we did believe that, uh, it would last for, I don't know, like a few weeks, maybe, maybe a few months, but after almost 1000 days of this horrible, horrible war, I can feel, you know, a totally different state of Ukrainians around me at least, unfortunately, and but still, as in Ukraine, we say, hope dies last. So we really hope that we will win and that it's going to happen sooner than later. So, yeah, thank you for your support.
Speaker 2:Tell us how the project Working Together has helped improve the lives of the Ukrainian people.
Speaker 5:So I have received the second tranche from Andy. Thank you, andy, very much. So the first tranche, I got, I guess, four big solar panels, and all of them I sent, solar panels, and all of them I sent I gave to our soldiers, our defenders, not exactly in the front line but closer to the front line, because of course they have some, not trouble, but problems with electricity and power. And this this time, probably almost a month ago, I got four more solar panels. These panels are a little bit smaller, which is, I guess, more convenient. They are more affordable and I am looking for the people who are in the biggest need of these panels.
Speaker 5:But I asked Andy for one solar panel. And this is true because these days, probably last month, no, starting from the beginning or middle of August or the middle of August, we have just horrifying attacks, russian attacks on our energetic infrastructure, and before that in my region we didn't have such big problems with electricity and light, but right now it's getting worse, absolutely worse, and we use our family as a charger when we don't have the light, because we have to be on all the time, because we live close to the Belarus border, maybe one hour, maybe a little bit more on a car. So we need to get in contact with our relatives who live really close to the border. So we have that, you know, like connection, like if they know any information, they pass it to us and we then spread this information so to know how to act, what to do, and these panels are helpful and they are saying that. Well, obviously, everyone knows and understands that it's going to be even worse when the fall comes and when it will get dark and colder.
Speaker 5:So I'm looking for some standards to meet these solar panels, because they need to be affordable and they need to reduce it in the place where these solar panels won't make any bad things to the soldiers. I want to explain this If I pass these solar panels to soldiers who are really close to the front line, maybe or probably Russians will somehow define or somehow will see how it works. So I'm looking for some groups, some people who are in the biggest need of the solar panel. So thank you very much, andy. Right now we are using it. We are using it like one of the solar panels and it's like sometimes like a lifesaver. So right now we have electricity, but very often, quite often, we don't have it.
Speaker 1:You don't have it. So, andy, how much does a solar panel cost here and how hard is it to get it through the shipping into Ukraine?
Speaker 3:We have that process down now. It costs to produce and ship. One of the solar panels is about $115. They're small, they're 50-watt panels and one of the, I think, more human aspects of this is when we decorate and convert these panels. People write messages of support on the back. So it's not only that you can charge your cell phone, but you know you can read from people that and again, hundreds of volunteers that have contributed to this effort we support you, we love you.
Speaker 3:We will not forget Ukraine. You know God bless Ukraine and I've had kids as young as, like six years old decorating these panels with little hearts, and so that aspect of it is part of not just spreading the word in the United States, because people are forgetting about Ukraine here and it's been such a long time and there's just so much noise with other disasters in our political situation. So it's really important for me to advocate not necessarily to our lawmakers, but to the general citizenry what is going on in Ukraine. So that is part of it. And the other thing is, you know we've talked about them going to defenders, and defenders can be people in the middle of a field who stay there for three, four or five days and their job is to keep their eye on the sky, and so they need to keep their field phones and you know charged.
Speaker 3:But we've also done a lot of work with educational institutions. There's three universities, large universities in Ukraine, that have received these, and what they do is they put together they're called invincibility centers and I love that term where they'll just take a bunch of panels and put them in the center of the campus and students and teachers can come by and charge their cell phones and smaller laptops. But you know, we were told by one of the universities that they are expecting three to five hours of electricity a day. So even when people have the battery backups, you know, if they can't charge them, if they can't charge up their battery backups, they're still back to ground zero.
Speaker 1:Right, and I'm just going to interrupt you for a second. I know Ramon has a limited time with us. So, ramon, do you have any final things to say before we go? We can keep talking with Andy. We go, we can keep talking with Andy and Irana, irana, is that right? But let's go ahead and have you have any final words?
Speaker 3:You read my mind, Judy.
Speaker 4:Thank you, I wish I could stay longer. So Andy mentioned that we're also supporting the defenders and I would like to mention that the defenders are the people who, as of yesterday, were teaching at schools, providing health care individuals, developing software programs, saving animals. Defend not only ukraine but, as ukrainians say, the rest of the free world, as andy mentioned, you know, the democracies, or the remaining democracies, against the coalition of autocracies there there are, there are, you know um appearing all over the place. Um, as many ukrainians say, you know it's um, it's a genocidal war. Uh, if uk falls, so will the remnants of the existing world order or security in the world.
Speaker 4:We feel, we're absolutely sure that's going to cause a domino effect and many other countries in many different continents will feel the consequences of the Ukrainian loss.
Speaker 4:We absolutely feel the time is of the essence.
Speaker 4:We see that many of our allies are not paying as much attention as they used to in the beginning months of the full-scale invasion and that's a very disturbing factor. I know many people are preoccupied with their elections, with their economies and other things, and we also know that our enemy is doing a very good job of trying to divide and conquer and cause a division within the societies that still call themselves democratic. So we'll see what the next year will bring, considering there are going to be multiple elections all over the world and we have a strong suspicion that some of the alliances will be broken. Therefore, ukrainians have learned to rely on themselves. We're trying to increase our productions of munitions, of weapons, developing drone systems that are now desirable all over the world. We're developing the techniques that are going to be cutting edge very soon, and already are. So it's the matter of the rest of the world getting their act together and being brave, being determined, being united which is really important and trying to restore justice. But that's all about justice, really.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you again. Thank you for everything you're doing and thank you for coming on here. I know that we are going to be doing our small part in both keeping people aware and keeping them you know, talking about Ukraine and giving the support, whether it be in the projects or just the, you know prayers for this to end sooner than later prayers for this to end sooner than later.
Speaker 4:Thank you for caring and thank you for every single action, no matter how small or big, you have enacted. It means a lot to me personally, it means a lot to Irina, my friend, and it means a lot to millions of Ukrainians who are still here and still standing strong.
Speaker 2:Well you have a lot of people here supporting you, not just as Rotarians but as individuals in our world. So you definitely have the support coming from our area.
Speaker 3:And thank you, Roman, for mentioning. If you look at the typical defender from Ukraine, they're older. They're not these fit young 20-year-olds. They're literally the fathers and uncles and brothers, and many women have joined, and so it really is the populace that is rising together to defend their homeland. There's an interesting statistic we just got through the Olympics. Close to 500 either potential or intended Olympians have died. It's a staggering, staggering statistic and that's why Ukraine had one of the smallest delegations that they've ever sent. But these are the people rising together and there's so many stories. You know there's millions of IDPs. I'm sorry, Roman, go ahead.
Speaker 4:Oh no, that's OK. And those who are not fighting, they're supporting the military Right and trying to do everything to sustain the economy medicine, education and whatnot. It's amazing to me how many Ukrainians have mobilized themselves and started to volunteer. I've always known that Ukrainian civil society is robust, but I never thought it would be this robust until the full-scale invasion. So I'm speaking about my bubble, at least you know. And then everyone I know, anyone I'm friends with, and I'm talking about hundreds and hundreds of people from all walks of life, from different ages, like, as Andy mentioned, from different careers, from different nationalities, from different religions. You know from different countries, nationalities from different religions, you know from different countries. They all got united and all they're doing everything they can to uh, to support the military, to support the civilians, uh, to keep the country going and protect democracy exactly, exactly that's.
Speaker 4:That's ultimately what it's about. The highest value of ukrainians is freedom. We've been been. As Andy might have said. This war did not begin in 2022. It did not begin in 2014. This war has been going on for centuries, as Ukraine has been trying to break away from the Russian empire and, as a post-colonial country which Ukraine is, we're finally trying to use this window of opportunity and defeat the last standing empire once and for all, and what we're doing here is basically educating people from other countries, because we're very close to the enemy and we're the first to encounter it and to resist. So, with that, I want to once again thank you and wish you much health and support and wisdom in the next few months and weeks as you cast your vote and as you care about what's going on in your country, because what's happening in America, ultimately, is going to have a ripple effect on the rest of the world.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 4:So we're buying some time. We're buying you some time. Ukraine is buying you some time. Please use that time wisely.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for joining us today and we look forward to having further conversations and hopefully the next conversation we have is it's a different situation.
Speaker 3:I want to mention here, you know, two of the things of the sort of aspects of what's going on in Ukraine that just blow me away is, first of all, how many IDPs there are. Idp stands for Internally Displaced Person, and when I was in Ukraine in 2017 and 2018, there were already over 1 million 1.1 million from the eastern provinces whose homes and villages had been destroyed, and they moved west and the rest of the country absorbed them. And you hear stories of people walking through a village with just the clothes on their backs and the pensioners and the people just bringing tables out and putting clothes and food and saying take what you need. You know, I mean just this unbelievable support.
Speaker 3:And then the other aspect and then Ida spoke very eloquently about this is what's happening to the children. You know they try to keep education. They try to, you know, have some normalcy and thousands, literally thousands of schools have been destroyed and kids are used to, on a daily basis, going. You know they hear the air raid siren. They have to go, leave the classroom, go downstairs into the basement or into the next building, and I have all of these pictures and videos of these kids trying to study under those circumstances. It's just, it's barbaric, it's really barbaric.
Speaker 1:It's a very difficult situation to be in. So, okay, we want to help, and you know how we are as Rotarians, what can we do and how can we most quickly get the best assistance to you. So what's the path?
Speaker 3:Boy, what a great question. I'm not sure I was prepared for that, but from my perspective, you know, let's keep funding the small solar panel project because it has not only utility but it really is a statement of support for Ukrainian people and democracy. So I would like to get the word out. I would like you know right now there are 11 clubs that are doing this.
Speaker 1:So do you, andy? Do you have a website, do you? What is the best route to get people to connect with you?
Speaker 3:We do. I've recently joined with an organization called Sunflower Seeds Ukraine. It's a small volunteer organization based in Boulder. We put together an SOP and a web page and it's basically sunflowerseedsukraineorg sunflower seeds ukraineorg. And um, it's still under development but um, uh, but that all of the, the information that used to reside in my head is now uh on that website. And, additionally, you know I'm retired and available to uh to travel within reason to speak. I've done trainings on how to do these, this project, remotely.
Speaker 3:The last club uh was Missoula, montana and I literally trained that group and they they just completed the project. So that that is one and then and then the other is um, we should have more relationships between Ukrainian Rotary Clubs and American Rotary Clubs. From this project emerged a sister club relationship that Tracy Elmsley, bill's wife, is now in a sister club relationship with a Rotary Club of Lutsk which the former president was one of the Peace Corps partners, and I want to put a plug in here for the Peace Corps because Peace Corps is one of the recognized partners. The Rotary has a memorandum of understanding that has already been renewed a couple of times and, of course, rotary is the 900-pound gorilla and Peace Corps is the smaller cousin 900-pound guerrilla and Peace Corps is the smaller cousin, but those relationships and there's a wonderful group of returned Peace Corps volunteers who have served in Ukraine. By the way, ukraine, when Peace Corps was pulled out, when this invasion started, was the country with the largest number of Peace Corps volunteers of any country where the Peace Corps serves.
Speaker 1:So how would a Rotary Club in the District 5330 connect with a Rotary Club in Ukraine to create a sister club relationship?
Speaker 3:Well, there's a new district governor, Oleksandr Khartyn, and I've been communicating with him and he's just learning the ropes. So I would say that to connect with that club and he's in one of the clubs in the capital. But also, you know, I offer myself as a resource with all my contacts, and you can publish my name and telephone number and email and I will answer every single request, every single request. I also have, just again, hundreds of pictures and videos of what this project looks like here in the United States as we're making these panels, but also the children in the schools and the camps and the defenders in Ukraine who have received those. And there's one of the most exciting things to me and I was very fortunate to do a peer-to-peer session at the Zone Institute and I have pictures of panels that we were making, we made here in the United States, and then that same panel in a school, in a village school, Right.
Speaker 1:Well, so, andy, I challenge you to get that information, maybe in an article, to our district so that we can publish it out along with all the information Irana. Do you have any final messages as we start to wrap this up?
Speaker 5:I wanted to add some phrases, some moments, about solar panel on my son. I have two sons, 19 and nine years old. So my older son is at university right now. In the western part of Ukraine, and Andy mentioned before that people do not have electricity, sometimes three to five hours a day. So my son there in Chernivtsi, in the western part of Ukraine, doesn't have electricity up to nine hours a day and they predict that starting from October, november, all over Ukraine, we won't have electricity for up to 18 hours every day because of, you know, a huge problem, problems in infrastructure, energetic and yeah, and because of all those attacks and speaking of these solar panels that we're using.
Speaker 5:It is, you know, like, it's a set on the window sill and once, maybe two days ago or three days ago, my son younger son noticed that solar panel and he would just, you know, like, run out of the house and he found out that was a solar panel. You know what is that? And then he came up to me and, like mom, I understand that this is a solar panel, but what are these flowers and what are these phrases on the back of the solar panel? And I told him that this solar panel is directly from Americans who support and who do care about Ukraine. He was almost crying like, really, so they are supporting, they are really supporting us. He was almost crying that how happy he was that he realized that somewhere on the other continent people care, people are supportive. So he was so surprised and he was so proud. Can I tell them thank you? Can I pass them my thank you? He was so helpful and thankful. So I think this is the voice of many children all over Ukraine, many of those who feel that support, because people are different in different countries and it's something international we all have, no matter what language people speak, what color of skin they have, but we all have good people and not very good people. So his faith and his emotion was the voice of many children. Thank you and great to you guys.
Speaker 5:And yeah, speaking of that bomb shelter, I told Andy last year that our kids my son is a fourth grader they would go downstairs in the bomb shelter, but this year they are older, so they would run over probably 400 meters or half a kilometer to the other building and I remember an air raid siren was every 25 minutes or something like that and they would just, you know, like run there and back, again, there and back, so, and it was raining in the morning and that was just, you know, like Ukraine crying over that picture.
Speaker 5:It's running there and back and it's not just two or three, which doesn't matter how many, but it's like almost 800 kids running there or back, like every 25 minutes. Yeah, so my biggest, biggest thanks in advance, biggest thanks on behalf of all Ukrainians, and we do feel support, we do feel that you care. Unfortunately, unfortunately, these solar panels cannot stop the war. These solar panels cannot stop the rockets and drones and all that is flying over our heads. But these solar panels is something that you know can change some people's lives, can, I don't know like help some hospitals, some schools, universities and so on, and just civilians like us, like our family.
Speaker 1:Andy, if you can send over all of your contact information so we can connect people and start some projects. I don't know if you have a global grant that's in process, but you should. If you don't, we need to talk about that. And you know, one thing that comes to mind just in our district alone and I think this could be replicatable across other districts I know that our district RILA students are looking for a project that they could do. This would be a beautiful project for RILA students. We have nearly 500 students that come together for camp. This would be something they could do at camp that happens in March and April. You know two to 400 of those solar panels to put together and source so they can draw on them and write on them and send their messages to Ukraine. I think it would be an incredibly impactful project. So I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done here and I think we're going to have a lot more conversations. What do you say?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. I think that this is a great project for our district to work on.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Thank you both for joining us today. We're going to wrap it up, but this is not the end of this conversation.
Speaker 3:One final comment. I belong to the E-Club of World Peace and I am supporting a country that is defending itself, and there's sort of a disconnect there. But you can't have peace if innocent people are being slaughtered, and you know, to quote Bhagavad Gita, you know that there are just and holy wars and it is our responsibility to support people who are seeking freedom and Judy, you and I. I'm going to tap your knowledge about global grants, because I have yet to do that. Well, I'm going to be speaking knowledge about global grants because I have yet to do that.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to be speaking at your club in a couple of weeks. You need to be there and I'll tell you what one of your greatest resources is right there in your club, and that's Rudy Westerfeld. He knows how to do this. He is a huge, profound supporter of peace.
Speaker 3:There are some great things we can do here, but we need to get moving on it quickly Done All right.
Speaker 1:Well, great to see you all and look forward to talking to you again soon. Thank you, have a great day. Bye. So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.