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Harpswell residents and friends raised nearly $10,000 this summer for war-torn Chuhuiv, Ukraine, as Russia continues its brutal, four-year assault on the democratic country.
“I was genuinely overwhelmed when I learned the final amount that had been raised,” said Viktoriia Khomenko, who heads up project management for Chuhuiv, a city of 30,000. The $9,567 “is truly significant, and this support will allow us to make a very meaningful difference for our Territorial Center for Social Services and, most importantly, for the people it serves,” she added.
Harpswell has raised more than $100,000 for Ukraine since the start of the war in February 2022. Donations were delivered to World Central Kitchen and two other international nonprofits that spring. In 2023 and 2024, contributions from Harpswell went to buy used vehicles and medical equipment for a maternity ward in Chuhuiv. A truce, or an end to the war, was expected in 2025. Neither happened.
Instead of another fundraising event, such as an auction, Harpswell organizers this year asked for tax-deductible donations for Chuhuiv. Those were sent to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works in Ukraine.
Chuhuiv is 75 miles from the Russian border and is closer to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, than Harpswell is to Portland. Chuhuiv is about 330 miles from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, which Russia has targeted daily with bombs and drones.
“The situation here isn’t any better,” Khomenko said. “In a village about 20 minutes away from us, two missiles were launched a few days ago in the morning, and 10 people were killed. So everyone is feeling quite pessimistic at the moment. That’s pretty much how things are here.”
Since July, more than 17,000 civilians in Ukraine have been killed and 51,000 injured, according to the United Nations’ Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
Khomenko said Chuhuiv will show Harpswellians exactly how their funds are used “and how your support helps people in our community in a very real and tangible way.”
“Please thank everyone who contributed,” she said. “Their kindness means so much to our community.”
Harpswell organizers for Chuhuiv are Connie Sage Conner, Jerry Klepner, and Tom Brudzinski, with help this year from Philip Conner, Mary Brennan, and George Simonson. Annie Hamburgen, from TAPS, oversaw contributions.
