SKIATOOK, Okla. — Although Ukraine is nearly 6,000 miles away, one Skiatook man said his heart is weighing especially heavy watching the people there flee for cover.
“Beautiful people, lovely people," said Aaron Weast. "Just the nicest folk you’ll ever meet.”
After adopting two sons from Russia, Aaron Weast started volunteering with Let’s Love Ministry, a Ukrainian charity for orphans. He's visited nearly every summer for the past 10 years.
“It started off just doing camps with the orphanages, sending shoes and stuff like that to the orphans because our used shoes are better than their new ones.," Weast said. "But after the war, it kind of transferred to internally displaced people.”
With the Russian invasion, he’s worried for his friends there. He said they’re in different parts of the country, some with nowhere else to go. All of them are able to hear airstrikes.
“You just worry for physical safety still because there’s a lot of things like airstrikes and missiles and things like that going on," Weast said. "And then they still have two months of winter. You know, if they cut off their heat, cut off their electricity, that could happen. Everybody’s jobs are disrupted.”
One of the hardest parts for Weast right now is not being able to be there to help.
“I kind of think of it like if you had a family member that’s hurt four or five states away, you just couldn’t get there to the hospital or something like that," Weast said. "Just that type of angst and worry and just not feeling like you can do enough.”
Instead of sending things like shoes, he’s hoping to send money to show his support despite being thousands of miles away.
“Lots of little people helping lots of little people could actually do a lot of good right now," he said.
If you’re looking for a way to help people in Ukraine right now, Weast encourages finding a charity to give money to. Every little bit helps.
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