Milton resident still raising funds for Ukraine

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 12/14/22

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Milton resident B.J. Mikkelsen has traveled twice to the region to do whatever he can to help those who have been impacted by war.

Mikkelsen first …

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Milton resident still raising funds for Ukraine

Posted

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Milton resident B.J. Mikkelsen has traveled twice to the region to do whatever he can to help those who have been impacted by war.

Mikkelsen first traveled to Berlin in early March, with the intent of going to the Ukrainian-Polish border. His plans quickly changed when he saw 7,000 refugees arriving there daily by train and his help was needed there. He returned to the region from October 27 – 30.

“This time I flew into Warsaw and took a motocross express into Lviv that is on the border with Poland and was inside Ukraine for about 90 minutes,” he said.

Mikkelsen said he has donated a significant amount of money he raised to the Ukrainian Church in Berlin. He said a military hospital that serves the Lviv region invited him to visit after they received some of his donations.

Mikkelsen said border Col. Lytvyn and four other doctors wanted to see if he could secure additional, fully equipped ambulances for them. They have three but now deep into the war, “they have to go across Ukraine, a 13 hour drive, to go over to the front and pick up wounded soldiers and bring them all the way to Lviv because all facilities throughout Ukraine are full.”

Mikkelsen said there is also a need for updated general dental equipment, “and now, like anything else, they need everything.”

Recently Mikkelsen finally received his non-profit status [501 C-3] for his Hudson Valley Helps Refugees Inc. and will be seeking larger donations from corporations from Albany to New York City. Since the war stared on February 24, 2022, and prior to his non-profit status, he has collected $40,000 in donations that he brought over to Ukraine.

“It was something inside of me that I just had to go to work. I had to do something for these poor people that were fleeing their home country, so that’s how the whole thing started,” he said.

Mikkelsen was born in 1945 and remembers all of the uprisings against the Russians, “from 1953 in Berlin, 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovakia. At that time I was a staff Sergeant in the Danish Air Force and all NATO countries were mobilized when that happened.” He said the Air Force stepped down after 72 hours after it was decided they were not going to war with the Russians, but added, “they have forever been our enemies.”

Mikkelsen said the current Russo-Ukrainian War was the impetus to become involved.

“It all comes back to my childhood and my upbringing and my experience with the Russians,” he said. He pointed out that his mother’s work with the Red Cross inspired him to help others who were suffering from the trauma of war and privation.

As a young man Mikkelsen hitch-hiked through Germany and saw Checkpoint Charley and the wall that separated east and west Berlin.

“I saw clearly that this thing called Communism is so inhumane that these Russians invading Ukraine this year is not going to be just an overnight thing,” he said.

Mikkelsen continues to make his pitch for financial help for Ukraine to local Rotary and Lions Clubs as well as to the Milton Fire Department. He will soon be seeking help from schools like The Academy in Esopus. He estimates that he receives $500 to $1,000 per presentation, “however, now that I have bigger goals and need more money it’s going to take me forever to come up with enough for an ambulance.” He is hoping that with his new non-profit status, he will be able to raise larger financial amounts in a shorter time frame.

On his recent trip he met with Vitalii Kharechko and Dr. Michael Radigan who run an organization called Community Self-Help, based in Lviv. Their website states they are a non governmental organization that is, “putting all its efforts into defending Ukraine from Russia’s war on our people, our territory, and our freedom. This means caring for Ukrainian hospitals and paramedics, and Ukrainian Internationally Displaced Persons, focusing on women and children, as well as providing newsletters and media information to describe daily events in the country.”

Mikkelsen said this organization has purchased thousands of large truck containers and are converting them into emergency housing, with kitchens, showers, toilets and sinks, while also feeding 11,000 people a day.

Mikkelsen said he will remain in the U.S. and will continue to raise money for the Rotary Club in Helmstedt, Germany; the Ukrainian Church in Berlin; Rotary Club in Warsaw, Poland; the military hospital and the Community Self Help organization, both in Lviv, Ukraine.

Mikkelsen feels strongly that we should continue to help Ukraine, despite some national politicians saying aid should be cut off.

“This is not war, this is terrorism because the Russians are killing civilians everywhere,” he said. “With a lack of heat and water I don’t know how they possibly survive. It is still a disaster and there is a ton of stuff that needs to get done.”