LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — One year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a local woman reflected on her experience volunteering at the Polish border last year, helping millions of refugees escape the war-torn country.
“I wanted to go because I knew I could do something,” Kathy Healy said of her experience.
Healy told 8 News Now she spent more than a month camping at the border as a red cross volunteer, feeding and clothing those who got out.
“There was no way to document them,” she said of refugees. “We didn’t know their birthdate; we didn’t know what city they were from.”
She said at the time, no one had any idea the war would last this long, but she believes her work truly made a difference.
“People were just desperate for a piece of bread,” Healy recalled. “They were desperate just to have their child stop crying.”
She added that many of those she still keeps in contact with still haven’t been able to return to their home country.
“The goal of a volunteer was just to give them a smile,” she said. “Give them security that that moment they were safe.”
Though Healy said it’s hard to still watch such sadness and pain from a world away, she told 8 News Now the people she knows will always rely on their ultimate strength.
“Survival makes you tough,” Healy concluded. “And these people are tough.”
Healy said she still talks to several women who escaped Ukraine as refugees last year. While they are still safely in other countries, they said their husbands continue to fight in Ukraine.
For more on the Red Cross’ help in Ukraine, click HERE.