An Interfaith Vigil For Ukraine Set For Sunday On The Green

GUILFORD, CT — An interfaith group of houses of worship have joined together to hold a Vigil for Ukraine, slated for Sunday on the Guilford Green starting at 5 p.m.

The event will feature Ukrainian speakers, music, a guided meditation, and clergy from First Congregational Church and Temple Beth Tikvah.

Donations to purchase medical supplies and protective equipment will be accepted.

In the event of rain, the vigil will be held inside the First Congregational Church.

Ukrainian speakers:

Irina Esterlis Cottrill

Read the Patch story about Estrelis' work for Ukraine here.

Born in Kiev Ukraine. I’m currently faculty at Yale. I started the poppies4ukraine@gmail.com fundraiser. People donate $100 and I bake them a delicious loaf of Ukrainian poppy seed bread. At first, I asked people to send money to three organizations I was supporting. Now that I am connected to United for Ukraine, we ask for cash donations (cash, check, Venmo, PayPal) to pay for supplies identified by three hospitals in Ukraine as well as protective equipment for frontline persons. We pay the companies directly to provide this. All of what is donated goes to Ukraine. The bread supplies are supported by private means, and none of the money we collect goes to that.

I was doing some work at Yale trying to figure out more funding and through being “Ukrainian” met Andrey. He introduced me to a few other Ukrainian professionals at Yale. We formed a group, United for Ukraine. We speak to those in Ukraine (hospitals and those fighting) and identify immediate needs and try to meet those needs through the money we raise. Last week we paid for 8 bullet proof vests for territorial patrol I believe; right now we’re working on delivering 10 vests to soldiers fighting ($3,000), as well as continuous hemodialysis kits ($11,000) to a hospital.

Andrey Zinchuk, MD

Born in Lviv, Ukraine. I lived there until age 14, across the street from Lviv's military hospital. We immigrated to the U.S. in 1992. As a physician at Yale, I care for critically ill patients in the medical intensive care unit (ICU). As a researcher, I work on personalizing treatment for those suffering from sleep apnea. All of this took a back seat after February 24th when Ukraine was invaded. I still have family in Lviv, my godfather, aunt, first cousin, his wife and 5yo daughter. Fortunately, they are safe. But many families are not.

Along with other physicians at Yale with Ukrainian roots, we've donated over 80 boxes of medical supplies to a Military Hospital in Vynnyky, Ukraine. This was fantastic, but the supplies were not necessarily requested, and it took over 1 month to get them to their destination from the US. To address these limitations, my colleagues and I reached out to ICU doctors at Military Hospitals in Lviv (West), Kyiv (Central) and Kharkiv (Eastern) Ukraine. They needed dialysis supplies and other critical care equipment. We identified a supplier in Poland, purchased the dialysis supplies and had them delivered to the Lviv Military Hospital in 6 days from the date of the request. The money ($12K) was raised through donations by my family.

Based on this work and Irina's efforts, United for Ukraine was formed. We are a task force of citizens, not a non-profit organization (yet). We assess the needs in the Military Hospitals, identify suppliers in Eastern Europe or Ukraine and pay for the supplies. Deliveries are arranged by the companies working with our hospital colleagues in Ukraine. It is entirely a grassroots effort! It is targeted and quick. This is the difference between what we do and larger non-profits.

Meditation leader: Care Goodstal Spinks

I'm a retired clergy person (Yale M.Div.), an authorized MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) teacher (UMass - see below), and a Yoga Alliance E-RYT 200 certified yoga teacher. I've led mindfulness workshops in the region for staff development programs at businesses, churches, educational organizations, and nonprofits, including programs at the Guilford Community Center.