John Hewko, general secretary and CEO of Rotary International and Rotary Foundation, speaks at “Healing the Wounds of War – Visible and Invisible” on Feb. 4 at the Ukraine Cultural Center in Chicago. Hewko noted that Rotary clubs have provided nearly $90 billion in support to Ukraine. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

The people of Ukraine have found friends in Rotarians.

Rotary clubs have provided nearly $90 billion in support to the war-torn nation.

“The response of our Rotarians around the world has been absolutely extraordinary,” said John Hewko, general secretary and CEO of Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation. “There is no question that needs in Ukraine are horrific.”

Rotary International, a service organization based in Evanston, went into action shortly after the Russian occupation of Ukraine began in February 2022.

“In a few short months, we raised $17 million from Rotarians around the world to help Ukraine,” Hewko said during a Feb. 4 presentation at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Chicago.

Hewko said that $14 million of that initial fundraising was spent on medical supplies, refugee support and basic needs.

Stuffed animals outside a devastated Ukrainian building (Photo from PowerPoint of Dr. Olha Paliychuk)

Of that $17 million, $4 million was spent outside of Ukraine, Hewko said, “because once the refugees started pouring out of Ukraine all of the Rotarians in neighboring countries in Europe really jumped into action, receiving refugees, working with refugees.”

“It was really quite an extraordinary response,” he added.

Add $5 million in global grants to Ukraine and the Rotary Foundation and Rotary International have provided $22 million in aid since the Russia-Ukraine war started.

“That’s really just the tip of the iceberg because Rotary clubs all around the world began working directly with Ukraine when the war started,” Hewko said.

Hewko said Rotary continues to make a difference in Ukraine and other areas.

“We’re not the Gates Foundation, but we’re not a small nonprofit either,” Hewko said. “We’re making an enormous, enormous difference around the world.”

Serhiy Koledov, counsel general of Ukraine to Chicago, said during the “Healing the Wounds of War —

Visible and Invisible” program that the war, which will mark its third anniversary Monday, has taken a toll on the country’s children.

“War deprives them of a happy childhood and sometimes life,” Koledov said. “It could be a curse with them for a lifetime.

“Since the beginning of the Russian occupation of Ukraine, almost every day we receive tragic news about the death and injuries of Ukrainian children.”

The counsel general said that since the beginning of the war, 599 Ukrainian children have been killed.

Serhiy Koledov, counsel general of Ukraine to Chicago, speaks at the “Healing the Wounds of War” program. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

“There is not a single Ukrainian child who has not been affected in one way or another by the war,” Koledov said. “Since the beginning of 2022, millions of Ukrainian children suffer from psychological trauma.”

Dr. Olha Paliychuk, a gynecological oncologist in Ukraine, said that the war is causing stress on youth.

“Several times during a school day they need to go into shelters,” she said.

And it is not just children suffering mentally.

The World Health Organization estimates that 30 percent of the population of Ukraine suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and that 10 million Ukrainians are at risk of developing mental disorders of varying degrees.

Pat Merryweather-Arges, a member of the Rotary Club of Naperville, said the mental health of Ukrainians needs to be addressed.

“Mental health and PTSD will be there for a long time. It just does not go away,” she said. “I have a son who was at war and PTSD is very real. It just doesn’t clear up just like that. It takes time and it takes a lot of healing and support.”

Merryweather-Arges said for Ukrainians to be at war for three years is unfathomable.

“We know that that’s not normal. War is not normal,” she said to Ukrainians at the program. “We in the United States haven’t had that issue. When 9/11 hit, it was huge, but it wasn’t anything like what is going on and has been going on (in Ukraine).

“So, you have our hearts with you. Now, we just need to get our hands and our resources and work together.”

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com