By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
It’s been a week well spent for Alona Matchenko.
She and other advocates for her native Ukraine have been in Washington D.C. as part of the Ukraine Action Summit pushing the House of Representatives to approve a package of military aid.
Today the $60 billion in military aid passed 311-112.
“Our hustled got rewarded,” Matchenko wrote in text to BG Independent Friday when it became clear the measure would reach the floor and have the votes to be approved.
The package, passed earlier this year by the Senate, has been hung up in the political wrangling with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, being threatened with ouster because of his support for Ukrainian aid bill.
Though he supported it and saw that it came to the floor for a vote, a majority of his caucus voted against it.
The military assistance is badly needed as Ukraine continues to struggles more than two years after the Russians invaded the country on Feb. 24, 2022.
Matchenko, the founder of Toledo Helps Ukraine, said the measure had strong support from her local U.S. representatives.
Her property in Perrysburg straddles the line between the Ninth Congressional District represented by Democrat Marcy Kaptur and the Fifth District represented by Republican Bob Latta. Her front yard in in the Ninth and backyard in the Fifth.
She is registered in the Ninth District.
Kaptur, who co-chairs the Ukrainian caucus in the House, is a model for her steadfast support for the embattled country, Matchenko said.
Latta has also been supportive. His daughter, Elizabeth Latta, helped pack supplies to send to Ukraine last year.
“We truly believe that in our area human life matters,” she said.
[RELATED: More help for embattled Ukrainians on its way from Northwest Ohio]
Summit attendees also met with representatives of the state’s senators Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican J.D. Vance.
Brown has supported the aid, but the response from Vance’s people was “disheartening.” The junior senator has been an outspoken opponent of helping Ukraine.
Matchenko has been active since the invasion, collecting humanitarian supplies to send home, and helping Ukrainian refugees.
In May 2022, she traveled to Ukraine to personally deliver supplies.
[RELATED: Alona Matchenko personally delivers aid from Toledo to embattled Ukrainians]
The War in Gaza has taken attention away from the situation in Ukraine – the House also approved $26 billion in aid for Israel.
America, she said, can handle more than one crisis at a time.
Also, she noted much of the money spent will be spent on armament and supplies that will be produced by Americans. “Most of the money will be spent in the United States.”
One representative told them that not enough workers are available to staff those factories. Ukrainian refugees would be more than happy for jobs supplying the assistance their homeland needs, Matchenko said.
She was advised to push this angle by Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn, who is of Ukrainian extraction, and has been a strong supporter of her efforts.
In Brown’s office, Matchenko met the mother of an American veteran, who died fighting as a volunteer in the war. The mother spoke about how deeply proud she was of her song, Matchenko said. “Everyone watching it was in tears.”
In January, NPR reported that 30 Americans are known to have died fighting in conflict on the Ukrainian side. Hundreds have volunteered.
Matchenko and others participating in the summit also joined a demonstrator who has been picketing at the Capitol every day since the invasion though he has no Ukrainian blood.
Displays like these, she said, leaves her optimistic despite the dire situation on the ground in Ukraine.
