Ukrainian mom living in Naperville creates website to raise money for her homeland

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - A Ukrainian mom living in the western suburbs is still in disbelief her country is under attack.

Now she’s giving everything she’s got to fight the war from Naperville.

"No one could believe that somewhere, in the 21st century, in the center of Europe, something like that could ever happen," said Bogdana Kashperovetska, a Ukrainian native who now lives in Naperville with her husband and two daughters.

She and her husband spent most of their lives in Ukraine.

Her parents are in the central city of Vinnytsia.

On March 6, a Russian missile strike killed nine people at the Vinnytsia airport.

"I cannot say to them stay because it's not safe, and I cannot say to them go because it's not safe either," said Kashperovetska.

She says gas is scarce in Ukraine.

An escape that could take hours, now takes days because of Ukrainian military roadblocks.

"A lot of people been walking for 18, 20 hours," she said.  Her parents are elderly, and she fears they could not make the trip.

The logistics of shipping donations from the U.S. to Ukraine proved impossible for Kashperovetska.

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So, she took matters into her own hands.

She created a website for monetary donations and is purchasing humanitarian aid online in Europe, then shipping it straight to volunteers who are driving it into Ukraine.

"Thankfully, we still have a lot of volunteers there who are ready to sacrifice their time, their money, their effort, everything they can do to reach people in real need," said Kashperovetska.

If you’d like to help, the website is www.sunfloweralliance.org.