When the Need is 'Everything'

As the war in Ukraine grinds on, U.S. councils continue to raise awareness and support humanitarian efforts

By Jarosław Herman

Jan. 9, 2026

Knights with supplies for Ukraine — New Jersey Knights gather inside a relief container filled with supplies bound for Ukraine during a loading event in Vineland, N.J., Oct. 8, 2022

Amid the salt-tinged air of the Port of Newark, New Jersey, a massive steel container is hoisted into the sky. It settles onto a cargo ship with a heavy thud, destined for Ukraine via Poland.

One might think this is the work of a multinational logistics corporation or a government agency. In reality, it’s the 17th such shipment organized by a handful of Knights of Columbus from a rural parish in New Jersey. Inside the container are 15 tons of supplies, including hospital bed pads, winter clothing and essential food items, collected by Vineland (New Jersey) Council 2531.

These shipping containers are just one example of the support that is flowing into Ukraine from the United States as many U.S. councils continue to raise awareness for the humanitarian crisis in that country. By hosting charity events and donation drives in support of the Order’s Ukraine Solidarity Fund, councils are providing aid to thousands of refugees and orphans in need — proof that the Order’s principle of charity knows no borders.

FRATERNAL LOGISTICS

At the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, New Jersey Knights invited Yuriy Maletskiy, then state deputy of Ukraine, to address their convention remotely.

“People heard directly from Ukraine, from Yuriy, what a difficult situation they are facing there,” said Grand Knight Henry Michalkiewicz of Council 2531. This missive from the front lines, he said, spurred action among members of his council.

“When I asked [Maletskiy] for a list of what you need, the answer was: ‘Everything — whatever you can send,’” Michalkiewicz recalled.

As a result, items such as school backpacks filled with supplies and jackets for children were rounded up and sent to Ukraine. As more companies became involved as sponsors, the variety of donations broadened. One company supplied an entire container of blankets; another provided special bed pads. Many provided goods free of charge or at a heavily reduced price.

What began modestly as a plan to partly fill a single small container quickly expanded. Knights across New Jersey became involved, Michalkiewicz said. When other councils in the state learned of available goods or donations, they immediately notified Council 2531, which arranged the transport using its own delivery line. Designated drop-off locations were set up throughout New Jersey where individuals could deliver donated goods. From there, the items were transported to Council 2531 to be sorted and loaded into the container.

“It took days,” Michalkiewicz said, referring to the tons of goods that had to be processed — and the tons of work done by a dozen Knights of Council 2531. “Suddenly, we realized we had enough for a whole container. And from that one, the next ones followed.”

Michalkiewicz, who has decades of experience doing business with Poland, relied on his own expertise and the help of brother Knights to ensure the aid reached its destination without interference. A supply chain was established, beginning in the New Jersey parish hall and continuing to the Port of Newark; then across the Atlantic to the port in Gdańsk, Poland; and finally into the hands of brother Knights of St. Wojciech, Patron of Poland Council 15267 in Tomaszów Lubelski for distribution in Ukraine — or to Knights in Lviv for distribution.

“From the beginning, it was from Knights to Knights,” Michalkiewicz said. “We know it won’t go into the wrong hands.” To date, 17 containers have been sent, each weighing approximately 14-15 tons — more than 300 tons in total. With assistance from neighboring Knights from Liberty Council 1910 in Cedarville, Council 2531 has collected goods for an 18th container, which will be sent early this year.

“When we have [goods], we send them; when we don’t, we don’t,” Michalkiewicz said. “We keep acting. We do what we can.” Although the goods are shipped west to east, the benefit flows both directions: “This whole project gave me more than I gave of myself. I received more than I [gave to] Ukraine,” he said.

Wally Connor, executive director of S.O.N.G. (Supporting Orphans Nationally and Globally) and past grand knight of Sacred Heart Council 11080 in West Brookfield, Mass., visits with Ukrainian children at the Southside Refugee House in Rzeszów, Poland, in May 2022.

A FATHER’S PROMISE

While Michalkiewicz manages logistics calculated in tonnage, Wally Connor, past grand knight of Sacred Heart Council 11080 in West Brookfield, Massachusetts, focuses on making a less quantifiable kind of impact — on the individual lives of orphans in Ukraine. For Connor, humanitarian aid in Ukraine is the latest chapter in a 27-year mission of service.

It began in 1999 during a trip to Siberia, where Connor and his friends saw children in tattered clothing trying to play ball with rocks and sticks outside an orphanage. “We decided, let’s do something,” he said. Working with the Knights of Columbus and other organizations, Connor sent socks, pajamas and other necessities to the orphanage.

That effort, originally called “Socks of Siberia,” eventually evolved into S.O.N.G. — Supporting Orphans Nationally and Globally. When the invasion of Ukraine began, Connor’s volunteer-run organization had to cease operations in Russia but immediately pivoted across the border.

Teaming up with Aerial Recovery, an international disaster response organization, S.O.N.G. assisted with the safe evacuation of children at the beginning of the war. The two organizations rescued children from war zones in eastern Ukraine, explained Connor, bringing them to safe havens in the west or into Poland. Beginning in April 2022, S.O.N.G. provided critical support to the Southside Refugee House in Rzeszów, Poland, which housed an average of 110 refugees, by covering utility costs and delivering food, medicine and clothing.

Since the war began, S.O.N.G. has received support from Council 11080, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish, and the Massachusetts State Council, delivering thousands of dollars in medical supplies to hospitals and more than 90 winter jackets for children in Ukraine.

“Our philosophy, all along, has been: These children are in situations through no fault of their own. It became a mission for us,” said Connor, who has visited Poland several times and been to Ukraine twice since the war began. “Our Lord calls us all to serve in some capacity. This is what we’ve chosen, and we’ve dedicated our lives to it.”

During one mission trip to Kyiv, the S.O.N.G. team met a young boy with muscular dystrophy whose father, a soldier, had promised to build his son an outdoor gym set for his birthday. Tragically, the father was killed in action just one week before the boy’s birthday.

The team refused to let that promise die with the father. They found a local welder, purchased materials, and ensured that parallel bars and climbing equipment were installed for the boy.

“That was a particularly warm story for us, and tragic on their part as well,” Connor said. “We were able to provide the boy with his wish that his father had promised.”

Past Grand Knight Robert Szyman of Father Perez Council 1444 in Chicago stands with Ukrainian refugee children at the Knights of Columbus Mercy Center at St. Klemens Hofbauer Parish in Warsaw, Poland, in September 2025.

REBUILDING LIVES, NOT JUST BUILDINGS

In Nelson County, Virginia, St. John Paul II Council 16535 is demonstrating that a small council can mobilize an entire community. In 2022, the council was about to host a Polish-Ukrainian dinner when the war broke out. What was originally intended as a fun community fundraiser quickly changed course and became a benefit dinner to raise funds for the Order’s Ukraine Solidarity Fund, explained Deputy Grand Knight Gary Jaketic.

Since 2022, the council has organized an annual Ukrainian Benefit Dinner, featuring sausage from the Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago, pierogies, sauerkraut, stuffed cabbage and other traditional Eastern European foods. Throughout the dinner, the council runs videos of the Order’s work in Ukraine on a continuous loop.

“It made them learn a little bit about the Knights of Columbus — what we stand for, what we do, and what we represent,” explained Grand Knight Wayne Parent.

Jaketic, who is of Slovenian ancestry, noted how the dinners have engaged neighbors with no personal connection to Eastern Europe, bringing together several hundred local residents in support of Ukraine. Since 2022, Council 16535 has brought in an estimated $42,000 in support of the Ukraine Solidarity Fund through its charitable efforts.

As he plans for the council’s fifth annual benefit dinner on April 24, Jaketic said the mission’s goals are long-term. “Even if the war stops, they are still going to need help,” he said. “It’s about rebuilding the people.”

A similar concern for the well-being of the Ukrainian people inspired Past Grand Knight Robert Szyman of Father Perez Council 1444 in Chicago to take his siblings on a pilgrimage to Poland. After his council raised more than $3,100, Robert personally delivered the funds to the Mercy Center at St. Klemens Hofbauer Parish in Warsaw. He sat in the back of a parish hall as 25 Ukrainian refugee children sang songs of gratitude.

“The things that they do [at the Mercy Center] ... they have to be the epitome of Christianity,” Szyman said, referring to the staff who provide psychological and spiritual care to children traumatized by war. He returned to Chicago with a hand-painted icon — a gift from the Polish pastor — but more importantly, he returned as a witness to the power of the fraternal bond.

“There are over 2 million [Knights of Columbus], and we will never all know each other,” Michalkiewicz said. “But because we know we have brothers all over the world, it motivates us to act together. That is why we do what we do.”

To learn more about the Order’s work in Ukraine and to support those efforts, visit kofc.org/ukraine.

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JAROSŁAW HERMAN writes from Kraków, Poland.