'Getting worse': Riverton woman sounds call to aid Ukraine after 10th humanitarian trip to country

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Mindie Packer recently returned from a humanitarian trip to Ukraine and is banging the drum for continued support for the nation in its war with Russia.
The Riverton woman's group, Hope Across Borders, helps displaced Ukrainians and provides aid to the country.
Packer worries interest in Ukraine is waning even though the situation in the country seems to be worsening.

RIVERTON — Mindie Packer's efforts to help the people of war-torn Ukraine haven't waned in the four-plus years of the nation's war with Russia.

If anything, the Riverton woman's passion has intensified. She returned earlier this month from a 12-day trip to the country with a contingent from the small humanitarian group she leads, Hope Across Borders, her 10th visit to help Ukraine since the war broke out in February 2022.

"All of us have been helping since the war started and just continue to feel a need to help. In my opinion, things are getting worse in Ukraine now (more) than even last year, and so the need is just so, so big," she said, back in Utah. "We just keep feeling compelled to go and help."

She also senses faltering U.S. interest and concern with Ukraine and returned with a sense of urgency about banging the drum for continued public attention to the matter. The United States has been a key provider of aid to Ukraine, but support has tapered during President Donald Trump's second term as the war has continued.

"If I could ask anything, it would be, 'Please call your ... congressman, your senators, your representatives, and please ask them to vote for stronger sanctions on Russia, to send military aid, to continue to help,'" she said. Some may have turned their focus to other global hotspots and issues, but Ukraine still needs support.

A Utah contingent recently returned from a humanitarian trip to Ukraine and the group leaders is pressing for continued aid for the country in its war with Russia. The photo shows a cemetery in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. (Photo: Mike Thaller)

Packer and her husband Win Packer are among a contingent of Utahns and others around the country who have aided Ukrainians fleeing their nation. She and others from Hope Across Borders have also visited Ukraine several times to provide aid directly to those in need and to bolster the spirits of the Ukrainian people.

'Very tragic and melancholy'

On the recent foray with her husband and four others, the group visited numerous cities in the more westerly part of the country, less impacted by Russian attacks, though they saw signs of prior Russian bombings and spent time in a bomb shelter due to an attack. The visit went from July 21 to Aug. 2.

The visitors, covering their own trip costs, provided funds to help 10 Ukrainian families displaced by the war, partnering with two Ukrainian organizations to identify the recipients.

"There was a family that had two teenage daughters that were sharing an old couch as their bed, and their mom's dream was to get them both beds. So we helped provide beds, mattresses, bedding," Packer said. Another family needed a clothes washer, and a young girl in another family needed eye exams and glasses.

The group also provided hygiene products and other aid directly to those in need and visited orphanages and refugee centers to buoy the hopes of some of the people most adversely impacted by the war.

"They give us a feeling that, 'Oh, thank you. Nobody remembers us. Nobody comes to see us. Nobody helps us, not even our government,'" said Julie Benson, who also took part in the trip, her second to Ukraine. "Every time I go with Mindie, I feel like it's important to let them know that, 'Hey, we're not forgetting about you guys. We're doing our best to help you.'"

Mike Thaller of Riverton also took part in the trip, his fifth to the country. He noted, among other things, the daily playing of the Ukrainian national anthem across the country at 9 a.m. each day and memorials in each town to Ukrainian soldiers killed in the fighting.

"It is very tragic and melancholy what the Ukrainian people have been through the past four-and-a-half years. I have experienced air raid sirens every trip I have been on. It is difficult to understand ... the citizens experiencing this every day," he said.

Thaller sees them as strong, survivor types, though, and Packer senses a resilience among the Ukrainian people.

"It's sad, and it's hard to see, but they ... seem to be in good spirits. I think you kind of have to be because it's gone on so long that it's either make the most out of the circumstances or live in anger and fear every day," she said. "But I can tell you, they want this war to end."

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.