Advertisement

Volunteers in Ukraine

|
Posted: Aug 17, 2022 12:01 AM

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

When Russia attacked Ukraine, “experts” said the country would fall within days. It hasn’t. One reason is that the Russian military wasn’t as effective as people thought. Another is that Ukrainians surprised the world by courageously defending their country. A third reason is that volunteers from everywhere stepped in to help. People with combat experience joined Ukraine’s Foreign Legion. Doctors, nurses and others with medical experience are keeping the country’s health care system going. Several thousand others do humanitarian work, like distributing food and medicine. For my video this week, Stossel TV executive producer Maxim Lott went to Ukraine to record them at work. He rode along with ambulance driver Didrik Gunnestad, a 27-year-old volunteer from Norway. Gunnestad delivered supplies, and then he drove sick people out of dangerous areas. “It was learning by doing,” he says. Ambulances were desperately needed. “Most things that happen here are done by volunteers, not government officials.” Tom Palmer, an American with the Atlas Network think tank, raised more than $1 million in aid for Ukraine. He flew it to Poland and then drove some of it into Ukraine himself. He worked with Ukrainian volunteers to find out where aid was most needed. “It was just astonishing to see this network emerge,” says Palmer. “It wasn’t centrally directed … (Volunteers) solved a lot of micro problems that big hierarchies can’t see.” The volunteers also reduce waste. “There is a …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

U.S. National Debt

The current U.S. national debt:
$34,573,199,545,841
Send this to a friend