COMMUNITY
Cypress family fundraises to support former Ukrainian exchange student
BY MIKAH BOYD
were nearing safety after traveling through an area where Russia and Ukraine declared a cease re to escape their hometown. Traveling through these areas is still danger- ous, according to Kuchyk. “[Kuchyk’s] best friend’s in Mari- upol, [and] that’s the city everybody sees on the news right now. ... I’ve seen the toll it’s taken on her. I’ve seen when we have conversations together how exhausted she is just mentally and the anxiety of worrying for her mom, so I’m so excited her mom will be getting there, that we got her out,” Vitovsky said. Local e orts Vitovsky home-schools her twin sons, who have spent their free time making crafts to support Kuchyk since Feb. 28. “We’ll be going into our third week because I gave them a week o when [the war] started, and then we had school last week, but we were doing a lot in the afternoons and stu after the schoolwork was done,” Vitovsky said in a March 17 interview. The family has a Give Send Go account to help Kuchyk and her family with the costs of U.S. visas. As of March 23, the family had raised $7,105 of their $30,000 goal. The Vitovsky family plans to continue helping the rest of Kuchyk’s friends and relatives through fundraising. Within the coming weeks, Vitovsky said she is hoping to organize a bake sale and market event with Fair eld Baptist Church to bene t the Ukrainian family.
When Cypress resident Melanie Vitovsky rst heard of the crisis in Ukraine, she and her sons decided to make and sell crafts to raise money to support Adel Kuchyk, one of the family’s former exchange students. Kuchyk is fromMelitopol, Ukraine, and has escaped the violence there while her parents remain in di erent areas in Ukraine. Kuchyk, her younger brother and her ance made it to Lithuania after eeing Ukraine in early March and were provided with a studio apart- ment for the time being. “Some people were very kind to provide us this one-room apartment for free,” Kuchyk said. “We don’t really know for how long, but for now it’s free for us. So we are very, very grateful to have a place we can call home for now.” The kindness of their Lithuanian hosts has made a great di erence for the trio since they left with only the clothes on their backs. After arriving in Lithuania, Kuchyk learned the Ukrainian currency, hryvnias, has little value outside of Ukraine. The reduced value of the hryvnia has posed chal- lenges as Vitovsky tried to send aid to Kuchyk and ensure the funds came in the form of euros or U.S. dollars. Having found an e ective way to wire money to Kuchyk, Vitovsky and her family continue to fundraise to support Kuchyk as well as her family and friends. Their goal was to get Kuchyk and her ance’s mothers out of the country and reunite them. As of March 17, the women
The Vitovsky family hosted Adel Kuchyk (left) in 2017 18. (Courtesy Melanie Vitovsky)
Adel Kuchyk is from Melitopol, Ukraine, but she lived with a local family in Cypress and attended Bridgeland High School in 2017-18, which is about 6,300 miles away. That family is now working to raise funds to support Kuchyk as she and her family attempt to remain safe while her city is occupied by Russians. LONG DISTANCE SUPPORT While Ukraine is slightly smaller than Texas , its population is 50% larger , according to the U.S. Census Bureau and The World Bank.
SOURCES: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, THE WORLD BANK COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
The Vitovsky family has hosted 11 exchange students over the years and welcomed Kuchyk into their home during the 2017-18 school year. During her time in Cypress, Kuchyk attended Bridgeland High School, where she participated in journalism and the yearbook committee. Outside of school, she was also involved in the youth group at Fair- eld Baptist Church and gave back to the community that welcomed her through community service,
including during Hurricane Harvey. Vitovsky said she has found hosting exchange students to be rewarding in many ways, including the exposure to other cultures. “I think it makes a di erence in the support that you get when your country comes under re or comes into challenging circumstances,” Vitovsky said. For updates on fundraising e orts and on the Kuchyk family, visit www.helpourdaughters.com.
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CY FAIR EDITION • APRIL 2022
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