Temple Emanu-El on the Upper East Side welcomed five-time Golden Globe and three-time Emmy nominee Liev Schreiber for Friday Night Shabbat service on Jan. 19. The actor and director discussed humanitarian aid to Ukraine and America’s role in the conflict.
It’s been almost two years since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. So far, at least 10,000 Ukrainians have been killed, more than 18,500 have been injured, and millions have been displaced amid Ukraine’s valiant defense against the defenders.
The war created a massive humanitarian crisis in Ukraine; according to the United Nations, some 14.6 million people will require assistance there this year. Upon learning that roughly only 1% of direct humanitarian funding reached local volunteer groups, Schreiber and some of his friends founded BlueCheck Ukraine in March 2022 in an effort to expedite aid to where it is needed.
The “Ray Donovan” star and BlueCheck co-founder Michael Goldfarb told the congregation that BlueCheck identifies, vets, and fast-tracks urgent financial support to Ukrainian grassroots organizations providing emergency aid for Ukrainians. In return, every organization has to provide BlueCheck with updates on where the money is going and what it is used for. More than 90% of the funds BlueCheck raises go to the nongovernment organizations (NGO).
Since its inception, BlueChecks has supported more than 20 frontline organizations, including Tip of the Spear, a landmine removal project for Ukraine; Cash for Refugees, KidSave, and Project Victory. Schreiber pointed out that frontline organizations faced great risks.
“They’re the ones who are dodging bullets and missiles,” Schreiber said. “They’re the ones who are going and pulling elderly people out of their homes or bringing them warm kits.”
Schreiber elaborated that Project Victory was made up of American military veterans who initially went to Ukraine to teach skills on how to treat life-threatening injuries but ended up staying “because the Ukrainians loved them so much.”
“Project Victory were the first responders when the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed by the Russians,” Schreiber said. “Ironically, what everybody in that area needed was water. And [Project Victory] was in there within the first three days with like four or five truckloads of water, and then they started building filtration systems and putting them in.”
Schreiber found Ryan Hendrickson, retired U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret and founder of Tip of the Spear, on Instagram.
“He’s like, one by one, pulling mines out of the grain fields in Ukraine and sort of like doing it like a YouTube video like telling people how to do it,” Schreiber said. “This guy is doing it all by himself. That’s his life’s work. Those are the kinds of people that we’re looking for, who are motivated like that.”
KidSave, run by husband-and-wife team Pavlo and Lena Shulha, has evacuated thousands of orphans and families from conflict regions. Because of the financial support of BlueCheck, the organization has been able to purchase armored vehicles and emergency medical and relief equipment.
“[Pavlo Shulha] is just always on the phone. Somebody is always calling. But that’s the importance of localized aid,” Schreiber explained. “People who are on the ground, have the intelligence, have the resources, have the language, those people are going to be the most effective.”
Goldfarb, an independent strategic and crisis communications consultant, underlined the importance of directly supporting NGOs.
“When we formed BlueCheck, our ambition and hope, and really sole purpose, was to take the operations and the centralized aspect of operations out of a North American HQ and decentralize it completely to the field,” Goldfarb explained. “They know exactly what they need, and they have that proximity.”
Ukraine in jeopardy
Because of House Republican opposition, further funding for Ukraine military and humanitarian support is in jeopardy. The loss of American aid could be devastating for Ukraine and potentially pave the way to victory for Putin’s forces.
Many fear that if Ukraine loses the war against Russia, it could embolden Putin to invade more European countries, like Poland, Latvia, or Lithuania, which are all members of NATO — and result in a broader, potentially catastrophic conflict.
Last week, Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, warned that Putin could attack the NATO alliance, and Sweden’s Minister for Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, said that “war could come to Sweden.”
Schreiber, who has visited war-torn Ukraine a few times and met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, applauded President Biden’s support of Ukraine.
“[Biden] said about Ukraine that if we don’t spend this much now, we’re going to spend a lot more later,” Schreiber said. “For any of you who have been there or understand the situation in Eastern Europe, and Ukraine being the gateway to Western Europe, you know what I’m talking about. This is somewhere we will be if the Ukrainians don’t finish this fight, essentially for us. I hate to talk about the geopolitics, but I really think that’s the fact.”
Goldfarb was frustrated with Congressional wrangling over a military and financial aid package for Ukraine.
“Approval of this package is being delayed largely over domestic political considerations, but it has very real-world consequences,” Goldfarb said. “A Ukraine that’s less able to defend itself is a Ukraine where the humanitarian needs are simply going to skyrocket.”
If you want to support BlueCheck and its humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, visit bluecheck.in/donate.
