In April, Emory Morsberger will make his third trip to Ukraine since the start of the country’s war with Russia in 2022.
The former state representative is founder of the nonprofit HelpingUkraine.US and will travel there to deliver medical equipment and meet with partners who are providing relief to citizens of the war-torn country. The visit will follow a trip by his colleague, Ken Ward, who is scheduled to deliver hearing aids to Ukraine this week.
Credit: HelpingUkraine.U.S.
Credit: HelpingUkraine.U.S.
Over the last several months, more than 100 Ukrainian volunteers partnering with the nonprofit have installed wood-burning stoves in homes hit in Russian strikes, as well as generators in hospitals and communities, Morsberger said. The volunteers have handed out more than 4,000 blankets and are running warming centers where people can get hot food and charge devices.
The multipurpose generators provide heat at the warming centers which are called “hope centers.” The generators also power the systems pumping water out of community wells, allowing residents and 14 hospitals to have clean water, Morsberger said. In addition, the generators provide hospitals with light that doctors and technicians need to work on patients.
By the end of November, seven months into the Russia-Ukraine war, over 10 million Ukrainian people were without electricity and 11 million were “in need of emergency shelter or vital household items,” according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Credit: HelpingUkraine.US
Credit: HelpingUkraine.US
“We’re happy to work with anyone who is trying to get needed supplies over there,” Morsberger said.
Gently used equipment such as hearing aids and wheelchairs are useful donations for the HelpingUkraine.US, he added.
Morsberger started the nonprofit last summer following a two-week trip to Ukraine. He traveled there on behalf of Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC, a leading provider of refurbished home medical equipment) to deliver more than $1 million worth of medical equipment. He returned determined to do what he could to help the people of the country.
Credit: Courtesy HelpingUkraine.US
Credit: Courtesy HelpingUkraine.US
HelpingUrkaine.US has raised $800,000 and sent nearly $4 million worth of donated medical equipment and supplies to Ukraine, he said.
Healthcare companies, ProgenaCare, PhaseOne Health and Datt MediProducts are a part of that effort with a $3 million in-kind donation of wound care products and dressing.
ProgenaCare traveled to Ukraine in early March to train physicians in use of the products.
The healthcare company will hold a virtual press conference with HelpingUkraine.US Thursday to discuss the trip.
“I am enthusiastic about being a part of this larger effort to support folks fighting for their lives,” John Daniel, ProgenaCare executive vice president of Global Partnerships and Business Development, said in a statement.
Credit: Courtesy HelpingUkraine.US
Credit: Courtesy HelpingUkraine.US
Morsberger said HelpingUkraine.US has received donations from individuals and companies.
In some cases, donors want to remain anonymous such as a company that donated 20,000 new syringes, he said.
“We get offered all kinds of supplies and equipment and probably two-thirds of what we’re offered we end up not needing because it’s either too old, or it’s just not worth the cost of picking up and shipping,” he said.
Purchased supplies are bought in the U.S. or in Europe.
Delta Airlines and UPS have offered free or discounted services to HelpingUkraine.US.
UPS will transport supplies from the FODAC center in Tucker to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at no cost, “almost always,” Morsberger said.
Delta charges only half the airfare for equipment or supplies flown from Atlanta to Germany, he said. It’s then trucked to Romania and later into Ukraine.
“The people of Ukraine really appreciate what we’re doing,” Morsberger said. “All of the supplies that we’re sending are very tightly controlled and distributed. We don’t have any waste.”
For more information visit HelpingUkraine.US.
Credit: Courtesy HelpingUkraine.US
Credit: Courtesy HelpingUkraine.US
Credit: HelpingUkraine.US
Credit: HelpingUkraine.US
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