Yuriy Boyechko, CEO and President of Hope for Ukraine

Yuriy Boyechko is the CEO and President of Hope for Ukraine. It's a non-profit, set up to help all the people of that country who have been displaced with food, water, clothing and shelter. We had a great chat talking about their mission, challenges and where the war is going. Tune in...

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Hey everybody, it's Mark Pattison.I'm back again with another great episode of
Finding Your Summit, all about peopleovercome diversity in finding their way. Before
we get to today's great guest,I'm really checked up to get on with
that. I want to direct attentionto my website www dot Mark Pattison,
NFL. There's a lot of goodstuff. There's a bunch of podcasts.

(00:31):
You can go and be inspired byother amazing people like the guy I have
on today. Number one. Numbertwo. We continue to raise money for
Amelia's Everest, which directs to hirea ground, an organization about empowerment here
in some valley Los Angeles and NewYork. And of course you can see
my wonderful film, the NFL shotcalled Searching for the Summit. It won

(00:53):
an Emmy for Best Picture this pastyear of my incredible journey up and down
Mount Everest. To go check thatout. Okay, So on that note,
let's jump into today's wonderful guests.His name is your bord Etsco.
Yes, you got it right,I get it right, all right?
Hey, Yes it did pretty well. Yeah, well, hey listen,

(01:15):
I appreciate this, and once againI want to thank our common buddy,
Marco for connecting us together. Youwere involved in such an important cause right
now, Ukraine for Hope, Hopefor Ukraine, and you know, it's
just it's unbelievable. You are Ukrainian, so you understand directly the pain that's
going on. And so I wantto talk about first of all this organization

(01:41):
that you are the president of Hopefor Ukraine, when it started, and
what you're trying to accomplish. Yeah, so we started back in twenty sixteen,
and we started, you know,as a response to an initial invasion
of the bottom of the Ukraine backin fifteen Russian separatists. At that time,

(02:01):
we had the first wave of theserefugees, so we started to help
them out and also help children whoHIV positive. You know a lot of
people don't know, but you know, Ukraine had the second largest HIV positive
population in Europe outside of Russian.Right, so that was our initial you

(02:25):
know goal to start this, andthen you know, we start tackling different
projects such as medical support programs wherewe would you know, bring kids from
Ukraine to hear, pay for theirtreatment, bring them to Europe, so
family support parties. So it's beenongoing humanitarian project done all across Ukraine.

(02:47):
And then you know, February whenthe fourth happened, which is nine months
ago for scale invasion my Russians,and then that just took a different meaning
for me to everybody he had hopefor Ukraine because the amount of need,
an amount of work we had tohandle, it was just ten x.

(03:08):
So it's been it's been like that'spast nine months. So in the past
nine months, we've been fortunate enoughto at this point to provide over forty
million meals in Ukraine. You know, we on average, you know,
we are providing fifteen hundred families eachweek with the grocery badge that last them

(03:30):
for two weeks. You know,then we have rescued. But at this
point, I believe over five hundredpeople from the war zone and we have
a center in Viv, Ukraine.There'd been that at the present time,
we have eighty people that reside therefull time. But it's been home for

(03:51):
at least thirteen hundred families ever sincethe war started. So it's been ongoing,
ongoing operations as far as trying tohelp as many people as possible.
But you know, every day wewake up and we faced us another challenge,
you know, like right now,right now, we were thinking about,
like the summer comes in, we'regoing to concentrate on Christmas gifts.

(04:13):
And then you know, the energycrisis came. There were like a whole
country with out electricity. Now we'retrying to supply that. So it's uh,
that's basically what we're doing. Anda lot of that information people can
find our website HFU dot org.There's a lot of projects we do.
We give people daily updates. Wehave it's called daily Impact. So we

(04:35):
want everyone to know what's going onon the ground each and every day,
so they can go there every dayand we give update daily. Yeah.
So so let's let's back up.Let's break this down a little bit.
Okay, So ironically you started thisorganization in twenty sixteen, yes, and
then and then just the way thatthe world ship and putting in all his

(04:56):
evil, decided to start bombing thehell out of Ukraine because he wants to
take that territory back. That's thebottom line, right. Sure, and
so because you already have the infrastructurein place, you are able to quickly
load up and redistribute what they need. So many people being displaced ending up

(05:16):
in other countries. Now you guysbelieve are based in New Jersey in the
US. Correct, yes, yes, So tell me about the logistics when
we're just let's just bring this upto nine months ago, right where you're
talking about the main focus at thetime was to bring groceries and food to
these various people that are being displacedand ending up in other countries and other

(05:40):
probably regions of Ukraine. But tellme about the logistics. Does the food
originate from the US or are youbuying this stuff from Europe? And then
are you placing this in the surroundingcountries like Poland and others? How does
that whole work? So basically,you know, you are fortunate enough to
build a decent aprocal volunteers all acrossUkraine, so we have a sentence and

(06:03):
leave Ukraine. So when there's awhole war broke out, we were fortunate
enough to purchase six hundred and sixtytons of food in Europe to get it
quickly to Ukraine. And basically thatfood has been feeding along little lines all

(06:25):
the way at allow and also rightnow, we also shipped some stuff from
here, but the first response wasfrom Europe, so basically the way it
works. We purchased stuff in Europe, we brought it to leave Ukraine and
from there we have daily events thatall our volunteers come. They bellowed them
up two three tons of groceries andthey take it to various parts of Ukraine.

(06:46):
You know, in the beginning ofthe conflict, the big need was
Key of region right when Kia wasoccupied. Then they left, you know,
Ukrainian army drove them away, Sowe had a big humanitarian crisis in
that part, you know, becauseevery time Russians live, you know,
it's it's disaster. Talking about humanitariandisaster. You know, the bridge is

(07:09):
destroyed and you know, supply chaindestroyed, people have no heat, no
water and stuff like that. Sowe tackled Key Region. Then we had
you know Hearty Region right where Ukrainianarmy draw them out of Hearty Region.
So there was a whole part ofthat area that we had to get help.

(07:30):
Now her sown region has been clearedpart of it, right, So
it's it's an ongoing you know.And then need is so great at the
present time, you know, likeyou know, you can you can pull
the semi to any town in Ukraine. And that sami will be cleared out

(07:51):
in the metal of two hours.Because people need foods, people need warm
closing, people need basically everything.Because we have you know, I just
checked stats um yesterday. So thepresent time, you know, you know,
fourteen million Ukrainians has been durn outof the country, which is when

(08:11):
outside of the country as a refugees. You know, before the war started,
population of Ukraine was forty five million, I believe. So you just
see the picture, you million agone, then you have you have four million
which are internally displaced. So likethe town where the city where we operate

(08:33):
from Elba's right on Polish border.So the population of that is almost not
double by the about fifty percent morebecause all these people from eastern parts I
moved there to find a safer place, you know. So we have ongoing
u problem how to help those whobasically left with one suitcase and have they

(08:58):
have no place to stay, theyhave no jobs, and they have no
food to eat. So that's basicallywhat we work in day and night.
Now. Yeah, so many questions. So is there any part Let's just
take a key for example, andthe place is destroyed like you've talked about
the buildings, the infrastructure, thebridges, the roads, things like that.

(09:20):
Is there any kind of commerce atall going on in Ukraine anywhere?
Grocery stores open, gas stations open, Is there any of that actually still
happening? So it does happen,you know, it is happening. But
the problem now that you know,they've been hitting energy energy system of Ukraine.

(09:41):
So a lot of right now atthe present time, on average Ukrainian
home in Ukrainian city have anywhere betweenfour to eight hours at day light.
So a lot of stores if you'regoing in Ukraine, even supermarkets that open,
you know, can you imagine goingaisle and the only lights are the

(10:01):
fridge lights because even if they open, they need to conserve the energy so
much. So you know, inthe places they the Russians have been driven
out, and you know, thelife as far as commerce, as far
as you know, stores they startedopening up, but you know, people

(10:24):
facing issues with supply Chaine, youknow, because a lot of the bridges
has been destroyed. You know,even if you have a truck to deliver
let's say milk, bread and stufflike that, it's really hard to do
that on time. You know,we just recently had our team in her
own region, I believe, youknow, so you know you can see,
you know, they went to thestore and the shells up basically empty.

(10:46):
Right. The store is open,right, but there's not much to
sell because they just cannot get delivered, you know. And and so you
know, they set up the shopoutside and they were given our food best
its footbags to those people who weretrying to go to the grocery store to
buy something, but there's not muchto buy. So that's basically what we're

(11:07):
facing in the areas that so youknow, the business trying to come back,
but it's really hard because it's constantsirens, you know, you know,
it's it's daily you know, silenceevery day, so you know,
they have to shut down everything,you know, and they cannot really,
so the economy doesn't want to functionsas its supposed to. And are there

(11:30):
are parts of Ukraine. I meanwhen we talk about Ukraine, we normally
you know here in the States,we to me at least, I kind
of just lump it in as youknow, the entire country and or regions
of the country that haven't been touchedyet, like life goes on daily as
it were ten years ago, fiveyears ago, three years ago, two

(11:50):
years ago? Or is everybody beingaffected by this invasion? Everyone? It's
just you know, it's a levelof destruction, right so you know,
you know, Russian they have theselong range missiles, you know, and
like a review where I am fromand where we operated. It is the

(12:11):
largest town next to Polish Water.You know, like I don't know if
you but you know what what youknow, what they've been doing. You
know, even though there's not likea massive destruction of the buildings and stuff
like that, but they have beentargeting um, you know energy, you
know, substations and stuff like that. So right now, all across Ukraine,

(12:31):
you know, even if you lookon on a satellite imagery, you
know, it's everything is dark formost of the time because even the towns
that are not exactly on the frontline, they're still facing you know,
complete blackouts and h and daily inthe daily you know, air defensing of

(12:54):
sirens because they trying to target everywhere. Yeah, then you're you brought up
energy now three or four times andthe idea from Putin is because it's it's
probably very cooled over the right nowto hit the energy. So that just
creates more suffering. People are tryingto figure it out, trying to get
warm, and by not having lightpower for heat, things you can cook

(13:18):
on things. You know, itjust complicates everything in terms of just caving
in. What do you think theI mean, like one of the things
I've thought about a lot of I'msure you thought about a lot more than
me. But what the endgame is? You know? I mean, I
just I like Ukrainians will never quit. They have this no everybody, every
man, woman, child. Itseems like they are dug in. We've

(13:41):
seen examples of this from Afghanistan,you know, when the US was occupying
and trying to get rid of theTaliban, and you saw that before in
the aedies from from the Russian sametype of deal. And when you invade
these different countries, you know,it's just like these people aren't going away,
and it's just like they're I justdon't understand what where he thinks this

(14:01):
thing is going to ultimately go.I mean, his life is on the
line, you know, he hasnothing to lose. I mean at this
point, you know, you knowone thing You've gotta understand that, you
know, it's it's an end gamefor him. You know, he's gonna
be done if he's gonna, let'ssay, because he needs to have results
for his internal crowd, you know, you know, he needs to see

(14:24):
that he can win, he cando stuff. So what he's doing now
is he's trying to intimidate civilians right, destroying their livelihood and everything. So
we are seeing, you know,the terrorist state operate like never before.
And you know, the end gamehere is that you know, we will

(14:46):
fight to the end as a countrybecause you know, if we're gonna stop
and we're gonna make a peace dealor any sorts, you know, he
will go back, he will regroupand he will start again in the next
few years. This guy doesn't lookat the Ukraine as a country that can

(15:07):
exist. You know, he's thethings that Ukraine and Ukrainian people is part
of his you know, a bigidea of Soviet Union, and you know
he's not going to stop. Soat this point, you know, you
know, as long as we havesupport and as long as you know Ukrainian
will, Ukrainians will fight till thelast soldier because you know that's our future.

(15:33):
You know, we cannot we cannotlose this. Unfortunately, there is
there is no ad option, youknow at this point. Okay, so
you're again you you started Hope forUkraine back in twenty sixteen, and you're
trying to help a lot of peoplein Ukraine for different reasons, and now
it's escalated your day to day inwhich your whole mission is, I would

(15:54):
assume, is two things. Oneobviously providing the things that you mentioned before,
the medicine, the food, differentpeople, clothing, warm, you
know, ways that they can continueto survive throughout the country. But but
you know, in order for thatto happen, you need to be out
fundraising and bringing in donations and thingslike that so you can help provide these

(16:15):
different things for these these people theyare in these awful situations. Yes,
I mean, that's why, youknow, we are so grateful to everybody
here in United States and all acrossthe world who have responded and then who
have you know, expressed desires tohelp. You know, we have a
lot of people who call volunteers,who have set up different collections sides all

(16:40):
of course United States, you know, I mean we help folks who ship
stuff to us from Hawaii and weare located in New Jersey. You know,
it's just the outpouring of love andsupported being tremendous, you know.
And then we as a as ateam, right we're making sure that we
are diligent, that everything that comesin that we can impact as many lives

(17:00):
as possible. So whatever we raisehere, you know, we ship containers
of whom in daring and almost twiceand months at this point, and then
we have the team on the groundwho as soon as the container comes in,
you know, we start tackling themost you know, desperate parts of
Ukraine, you know, going tothe you know, if you look through

(17:22):
stuff, the places we go,you know, I mean our volunteers go
to places like bahmot Is if youread about it is one of the hardest
contention point right now in Ukraine.You know, the city is under constant
but there's still civilians living there,you know, so they need food,
they need water, they need closing. So that's basically so our daily operation

(17:45):
is raising funds here, organizing youknow, humunitarying it from United States,
whatever we can get here. Wepurchased it in Europe and get it to
Ukraine as soon as possible so wecan help fox back work. And where
did I certainly makes sense where you'dpack a container out in New Jersey.
But where these continuers floating to.Where do they interport? So they go

(18:08):
to Poland from here and then fromthere we get get it on a truck
and get it to your pain.Yeah, I mean it. You know,
I think one of the scary thingsout there is that there has been
this this whole notion of you know, there's been a number of countries that
that broke away back in the dayfrom the Soviet Union that if they can

(18:30):
successfully take out and take control ofUkraine, then they would go after some
of these these other countries. Now, fortunately, you know they're part of
our alliance. Um, you know, you attack them, you're basically attacking
US, and that's probably been adeterrent you know, so far. But
you know, I mean, Ithink the US is doing what they can

(18:52):
to help as much as they canwithout being directly involved in the full scale
war with Russia. Right. Soit's it's been an interesting dance you know
that the U has done, UShas done going back to the to to
fundraising, I would imagine that andI have no clue. I'm just guessing
this is that you've seen just amassive increase from when you guys started this

(19:15):
organization in twenty sixteen that people didn'tprobably really weren't aware of what was going
on in Ukraine. And then onceBouten started dropping bombs on Kiev and other
places in Ukraine and destroying lives,and you know, it was a front
page of every newspaper every day.Um, and that's when you saw this
massive increase of just this injustice that'sgoing on in the world with this evil

(19:40):
person you know, sitting on topof the Russian government just destroying people's lives.
Yeah, I mean, you know, that's and that's the testament that
the light will always prevail over darkness, you know, because you know when
how they say no, when thereis the darkest timing at night, the

(20:04):
light shines the brightest. And that'swhat we've seen from the Fox, you
know, coming together helping you knowevery way they can, you know,
donating and stuff like that. Andthat's basically what keeping us going because if
you know one thing, you know, the bravery ukraining people, you know,
the whole country got mobilized. Sothat's a part one while we're still

(20:27):
standing. Part two is because ofall the people all across the world who'd
backing and this fight for existence ofUkraine. So you know, it's a
it's a we witness something that wehave not seen, you know, since
World War Two, you know.I mean, you know, I I

(20:47):
tell everyone, you know, andthere is always one crazy person once every
century, you know, and youknow last last century had Hitler. Now
we have putin, you know,and you know we're going to look back,
you know, our children look andreading in a history of books what
we're talking about with you right now. And that's basically comes down to everyone's

(21:12):
you know, asking himself. Areyou on the right side of the history
in the end of the day.Yeah, yeah. Now again, like
you mentioned, um Putin started droppingbombs nine months ago. You're from Ukraine.
Have you been back to Ukraine inany part of the country within the

(21:32):
last nine months. No, Andunfortunately I was not able to to get
there, you know, and Ido want to go back there, but
it's been just so basic here thatyou know, Yeah, everything is going
on is very close to me,you know, because my father's eighty five
years old. He's still there,you know, and you know, seeing

(21:55):
him, you know, sitting withoutlight for you know, sixteen hours a
you know, in the cold,you know, and running generates. It's
not a pleasant you know, andhe doesn't want to leave because he you
know, this is my country andthen that's why I want to die.
So that's basically so, you know, that's why I haven't been there.

(22:18):
But we have you know, ourvice president, my brother Yaroslavki, he's
going there regularly, and then wealso have team on the ground and constantly.
But as soon as you know I'mable to do that, I'll definitely
they would love to. Well,it's not it's not like you don't have
you're handsful, you know. It'sall these different food and supplies and logistics.

(22:38):
You know, it was shipping containersaround the world, um, you
know, certainly to get to allthose mission critical needs to the people of
Ukraine. You know. I broughtthis up before about what is the endgame
and just like fingers crossed that everybodycan get through the winter in this spry
and some good things will start tohappen. And I don't know, like

(23:00):
going back to to kind of whatyou're saying before, you know, it's
kind of either do or die withPutin, And I don't know if people
inside the government need to take himout or how that's all going to ultimately
play. But it's going to bean interesting couple months to see how Ukraine
with complete certainty that they will continueto stand and fight UH and and and

(23:22):
and be bold and brave UM intheir fight against the Russians. And it
just seems like there's more UM defeatsday by day from the Russians. They
take over a particular city than theythen they end up retreating and then they
say, okay, let's go ina different part of the country. So

(23:44):
you know, look at the endof the day, you know, hopefully
the things that you guys are doingare going to are going to continue to
keep people's hope alive. That's whyyou call it Hope for Ukraine. And
you can continue to fundraise and peoplecontinue to have the interest to support your
organization. I did throughout a lotof donation to you guys yesterday, so
you know it's so important to helpthese different people right now, you know,

(24:07):
that really needed. I can't evenimagine I'm sitting here in a nice,
you know, beautiful house here inSaint Elatto, and I can't imagine
all the sudden warplanes coming over thetop, you know, bombs dropping out
of the sky and destroying my home. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's
unfortunately, you know, but youknow my prediction that you know, by

(24:29):
March April on next year, youknow, the Russia will collapse, you
know, and it will collapse withinI think, you know, as long
as Putting is in charge, youknow, this is not going to stop.
The terrorism and everything that we seeis not going to stop. But
you know there's a lot of peoplein his inner circle who will eventually after
a few more defeats from a Russianarmy, you know, there's going to

(24:52):
be a lot of in fighting thatyou know, he won't be able to
survive. So that's uh, myprediction what you said exactly. You know,
this winter is going to be crucial, you know, these next three
months. You know, it's it'sbasically do a die, you know.
So that's why you know, nextweek we're rushing the container full of generators,

(25:15):
you know, because that's, uh, that's a really really important thing
right now. So we've try tosupply you know, big generators so they
can hit up the strategic places,you know, like a cover center and
leave. You know, there's eightyeighty people are living a full time you
know, so we gotta we havea big boiler room and everything that so

(25:37):
it's constantly so you know, weyou know, that's basically that's why,
like, you know, I personallyfeel like, you know, like you're
on the front line because every dayyou wake up and there's something challenge.
You know that you have to solveit. That's why we are grateful,
you know, for people like you, for everyone that you know spreads this

(25:59):
mass. You know that we cannotdo it alone. And that's why you
know, I talk to everyone andgo speak to everybody, everybody who wants
to listen. My my My goalis to to just share, share about
what people before going through and theshare about their bravery, and also thank

(26:19):
everyone who's been standing with us,because I mean people of the United States,
I've been I've been such a hugeblessing. You know, they have
such a big hearts and such adesire to help. And that's why,
you know, I do believe that'swhy this country is so blessed. It's
because of the giving and open heartsand such a such a you know,

(26:42):
I just before the call you knowwith you, before this podcast, you
know, you know, I hada gentleman home from Brooklyn. Man,
it's like, you know, Iwant to volunteer for you guys. You
know my family, you know,you know, his grandparents up from Ukraine.
You know, long long, long, long, long way. But

(27:04):
you know he took you know,three months of his life when the war
start and he went to on onto volunteer there for three months, you
know, you know, not gettingpaid, not you know, losing income
that he would earn here and thennow he wants to go back. So
that's kind of stories that motivates me, you know, to to to keep

(27:25):
going, and motivates everyone in Ukraine, you know when they see what American
people have done for Ukraine and generosityand everything is just thank you so much.
Absolutely. Well, look we're tryingto do here on the pod is
bring your story to light. Ithink the the URL that people can go

(27:45):
learn more about what's going on.I believe it's Hope for Ukraine dot org.
Is that right? Actually it's ah HFU dot org. We kind
of shortening out HFU dot org.That's our r L, So you can
go there. You can also goto our Instagram, Facebook. We can
do constant aldates on what we cando so you can find out more that.

(28:07):
Yeah, well for sure put thosethings in the in the show notes.
So listen, it's been you know, enlightening to talk to you.
Um, you know, I wasgoing back to what I opened with in
the very beginning. The NFL didan amazing documentary on my journey up and
down Mount Everest, and they're currentlydoing a similar type of documentary on Six

(28:34):
Ukraine. Um they were footballers apparentlyUkraine or big fans at the NFL.
Instead, they've created these different leaguesand when the bombs started dropping, the
wives of these these six guys,two of the more brothers fled to Poland
and and like many of them inthere, they had to pick up arms,

(28:56):
which they did, and they're doingvideo journals every day and the NFL
is putting those things together. Justa tragic story. I think a couple
of the guys that were the storyoriginally started again. They used to be
eversaries from from just playing against eachother to come together as one to fight
against the Russians, and a coupleof them have died. It's been,

(29:17):
you know, tragic and it's heartbreakingfor the NFL as they put this film
together, but so important, youknow, on the NFL bringing more light
to the world and for people likeyou with these organizations, hope for Ukraine
to shine the light bright so thatwe can continue to help and to collectively
overthrow what's going on from Putin inRussia. So on that note, thank

(29:41):
you very much for coming on.And you know, when this comes out,
let's socialize this and get it outthere and make sure that people are
aware of how you guys can help. Thank you, thank you much having
me, Thank you absolutely all right, guys, there is the one,
the only Yurie. Thank you somuch. I