ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Iryna Karavan’s phone rang again. She had been trying all morning to finish a flier instructing people on how to help war-ravaged Ukrainians but she kept getting pulled in every direction.
Karavan is a church volunteer and parishioner at Epiphany of Our Lord Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in St. Petersburg, where she and other volunteers are working to link an outpouring of support with the best uses for the money.
Karavan sat at a folding table that was her makeshift desk inside a small, unassuming building across the street from Epiphany of Our Lord, at 434 90th Ave N. There’s little of the color here that adorns the grand church, with its murals of gold, blue and red.
Next to Karavan lay a little black notebook with a Ukrainian coat of arms embossed in gold. Friends gave Karavan the notebook during her last visit to Ukraine in 2018. She hadn’t opened it for a while, but now she keeps it close.
Taped to the inside cover is a photo of a Ukrainian soldier who continued serving after his legs were replaced with prosthetics. The soldier visited Florida in 2016 through the non-profit Revived Soldiers Ukraine. He died Sunday, Karavan said, defending his country.
“This is what drives me,” Karavan said, holding the notebook. “I cannot think, ‘I don’t have enough help.’ I’m just opening this and thinking, ‘We can do this here, because he could.’”
We can do this, she repeated, her lip trembling.
Karavan, 39, lives with her husband in Clearwater and works as a real estate agent. She is from Sokal, a town in western Ukraine. In the week since the Russia attacks began, Karavan and her church have scrambled to encourage and coordinate donations for the people of Ukraine. To the Ukrainian community in the Tampa Bay area, the church has emerged as a hub of support for their homeland.
On Sunday, Revived Soldiers Ukraine held a charity concert at Epiphany of Our Lord and raised over $20,000. The Orlando-based nonprofit was formed in 2015 to provide medical care for Ukrainian soldiers but has expanded its mission to humanitarian aid during the war in Ukraine, a spokesperson said Wednesday. Revived Soldiers Ukraine takes in about $460,000 a year in contributions and grants, according to its latest tax filing.
The money raised Sunday, combined with other funds gathered during the weekend, has already been used to buy 10 emergency vehicles in Europe that will deliver aid to Ukrainians.
Monday night, during a candlelight vigil at the church, Karavan stood before the crowd and announced a new partnership with Course of Action Foundation, a veteran-owned nonprofit that promotes Tampa trade, children’s education and relief during natural disasters.
The church, with help from the foundation, collected another $7,000. The foundation is sending Ukrainians backpacks containing hygiene items and first aid kits. God connected the foundation with the church, Karavan said; their help has proven invaluable.
“We didn’t know what to do,” Karavan said. “We were answering phone calls from a lot of different people asking where and how to help.”
Faith has been a guiding force for Karavan since she was a child growing up in Ukraine. The greatest gift her parents gave her, she said, was her belief in God.
Her parents remain in Ukraine, safe for now in the west of the country. The capital of Ukraine, on the other hand, where Karavan attended university, has been hit by Russian artillery and targeted for invasion.
Karavan worries about the people in Kyiv and Ukraine but also about the capital city’s many historic buildings.
She remembers a church in Kyiv where she could find peace, St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. The massive blue church stands on the bank of the Dnieper River, its golden domes rising to the sky and its bells sounding the start of each day. Karavan wept at the thought of it.
Karavan would visit the church with friends while studying to become a lawyer.
“Since my time in university, this is the best place for me,” she said. “Every time when I’m going to Kyiv, I’m always going there. ... This is really very special for me.”
Karavan loved her life in Ukraine, where she had friends and family and a promising career as a lawyer. She reluctantly went along with her husband’s desire to start a new life in the United States and, speaking little English, she moved here with him in 2010.
She planned a visit to Ukraine in 2020 but the pandemic prevented that. Next, she was hoping to return for three months late this month. Despite the war, she still holds out hope of making the trip. She would fly to Poland and travel from there to see her parents, who live close to the border.
“I was planning this for months until war started,” Karavan said. “I don’t know if I will be going ... but I’m still telling myself, ‘Yes, I will.’”
____
____
