NH delegation members with Will Pisano, aide to Congress-member Anne Kuster, D-NH, holding an Odesa Cat poster. Marcia Amidon, J. Tedrow Bonner, Sarah Chadzynski and Alexander Kuzma, April 25, 2023. Photo: William L. Brown.
The Odesa Cats made it all the way to Congress.
I handed them to my senators and congress members a couple of weeks ago. I was one of 370 Ukraine-advocates who went to Capitol Hill for the Ukraine Action Summit. Summit organizers conducted training and information sessions, then we met with individual congress members. In most cases we met with their aides, but as veterans of the process told us, aides are often more informed and better on follow-up than congress-members.
This is how US support for Ukraine is turned into official action. Strong speeches may be inspiring, but, except in the case of Presidential executive orders, actions can only be taken after official acts, resolutions and proposals have passed both the Congress and Senate.
Ukraine Action Summit, Washington, DC, April 24-26, 2023
Every act, resolution and proposal has citizen or corporate advocate and opposition groups. We were just one of many such groups in small well-dressed clusters walking between Congressional office buildings and gathering, yes, in the lobbies. Each group had its own color-coded lanyards and literature. One had matching cowboy hats. I sat on a bench outside the Rayburn office building. A tired woman from another group sat next to me, we exchanged pleasantries and she went into her script for five minutes, explaining why and how estate-tax law should be revised. She made a good case.
Shall We Dance?
Going to Capitol Hill–shorthand for lobbying at Senators’ and Congress-members’ offices–is choreographed. The routines are well established. Summit organizers even encouraged us to rehearse meetings. Each participant, they explained, should have lines, each line would link to an important point or request. The Congressional and Senate aides know their lines and steps by rote. Meetings were exactly 30 minutes long. We were expected to be there a bit early, to dress accordingly, to take notes, to ask permission to take photos only at the end of the meeting, and to follow up summarizing all our important points.
All of this is for the hard-working aides’ note-taking convenience. A successful meeting is efficiently focused on the advocates’ most persuasive points.
In reality, the meetings were more relaxed, but we kept to the guidelines anyway. thirty minutes is not enough time to make any but the most important points.
The New Hampshire delegation and Odesa Cat poster with aide to Senator Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH Sophia Hays. Left-to-right: William Brown, Sophia Hays, Sarah Chadzynski. Marianna Epstein, a very nice gentleman whose name I neglected to write down, Marcia Amidon and J. Tedrow Bonner, April 26, 2023. Photo by passing stranger.
Since I’m living in New Hampshire for now, I went to see the three New Hampshire politicians representing my district there.
Granite Staters
The other members of the delegation have strong ties to Ukraine. Alexander Kuzma is the Chief Development Officer of the Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation. The Ukrainian Catholic University is based in Lviv. Marcia Amidon and her partner J. Tedrow Bonner run Rubicon Seven, which, among other projects, sought to encourage sustainable farming techniques in Ukraine–on farmland that is now Russian-occupied.
Sarah Chadzynski is Executive Director and Board Member of DATTALION US LTD, which supports Ukraine’s Data Battalion. It purports to be the largest free and independent open-source database of Ukraine war footage and verified eyewitness accounts of Russia's invasion. Marianna Epstein has a remarkable story. She is from Ukraine, a Jewish-Ukrainian who grew up in Soviet era Russia/Ukraine, and was a dissident. Her project is Empathy for Ukraine. Empathy’s mission is to translate first-hand accounts of horror and heroism and share them via volunteer-constituents with members of Congress. The goal is to create empathy and support.
Cool Cats
As I left my rented room in Keene to catch the train to DC, I grabbed a handful of Odesa Cat posters because the event organizers suggested bringing “leave-behinds,” small symbolic gifts.
The posters were given to me by volunteers at a community Help Point in Dnipro last October. The Help Point has clothing, household items, food, diapers, etc for displaced people. I admired the homemade posters displayed on the wall, so they gave me a bunch. They called them "Odesa Cat" posters. I believe they came from a volunteer group in Odesa. Many, like this one, are titled "Black Sea Smile." They seem to be inspired by Odesa illustrator Yulia Pogmoghina’s Ukrainian Warrior Cats.
The Dnipro Help Point in October, 2022.
The posters, and the story of the Dnipro Help Point, were well received. As I first explained, when Ukrainians see foreigners, especially American, publicly supporting them they are pleasantly surprised. Even though foreigners send aid and weapons, Ukrainians feel as though the rest of the world is not really paying much attention to the war. So, after I presented a poster to the aides, I asked them to allow me to take a photo so I could show the community volunteers back in Dnipro.
I posted the photos of social media and informed the Help Point volunteers that their posters got all the way to US Congressional offices.
I got this response from Dnipro volunteer Kateryna Minakova, who regular readers will remember from previous Native Cpeaker articles. When she writes that American individuals were among the first to send donations, she includes you, those who directly (or through me) donated to her.
To the people of New Hampshire and their representatives Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Senator Maggie Hassan
Dear friends and supporters of Ukraine!
We just saw on social media the warm welcome of Ukrainian representatives in the US Congressional offices. It is amazing that the Black Sea Smile posters painted by a Ukrainian volunteer made all the way from our help point in Dnipro city to Washington. We hope that this souvenir will make you smile reminding of how much good your help made here and how grateful we are for your kind support.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion with the aid of American individuals who were among the first nations sending donations to us we were able to distribute food, hygiene and clothing to refugees who were evacuated here from the front line cities Mariupol, Kharkiv, Bachmut, Siverodonetsk and others. Your help allowed us to bring hygienic kits and fruit to wounded in hospitals, to form the first aid kits for our men and women who volunteered to defend the country from unmotivated and violent Russian war aggression.
We know that the US Government sends the weapons to Ukraine and they help to restrain the enemy and to save more lives of civilians from killing and more buildings from ruination that Russia brings wherever it comes. We truly hope for the planes and more anti-missile systems because they will help to close the sky from Russian rockets. Since the February 24, 2022 there was not a single day without air-raid warning sirens. No matter what you do – go to work, play with your children, shop for groceries – the Russian rocket can kill you any moment. We have to live in fear. This war should end as soon as possible but it only can happen if Russia looses, otherwise there will be just a temporary ceasefire as it happened in 2015-2016. Unpunished evil always comes back stronger. Please, continue your support of Ukraine. It makes a huge difference here.
We hope to see you all in Dnipro after it is safe again to travel here.
Best regards,
Kateryna Minakova and the group of volunteers from Dnipro city, Ukraine
I highly recommend Kateryna’s online diary. It’s about day-to-day Ukrainian life as she deals with volunteer work, earning a living, regular air-raids, assisting her mom, and keeping up her own physical therapy.
Are you inspired?
Elected officials track calls, emails and letters. They have influence. So do calls, emails and letters denouncing support to Ukraine. The NH congress-members said they haven’t seen many, but the 2024 presidential campaign is just beginning, and Ukraine funding could turn into a partisian election issue. So, it would be helpful, dear readers, if you have a spare minute, to periodically remind your Senators, Congress-members, and the President that their voters want them to support Ukraine.
Here are the points the Ukraine Action Summit advocated for:
• the HARMS Act which would designate the Wagner Group a foreign terrorist organization.
• the Genocide Resolution, which recognizes Russian actions in Ukraine as genocide;
• a bill that singles out the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia as an act of genocide
• a proposal to transfer 300 billion in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.
• Expedited and continuing military support to Ukraine.
Back to Ukraine
As I write, I’m waiting for a flight to Poland. From there, a train to Kyiv, there to collect the most expensive temporary residence card ever, counting the two trips to Ukraine from the US it has taken (so far) to process and collect it.
I’ll be there for about nine days, then on to Germany to visit refugee friends. I will return to New Hampshire in June.
Progress Report
Black and white artwork for my “graphic novelette” is complete! Now, I’m adding color.
I experimented with color variations on the train to Washington.
Nice to see the range of posters. I think these should or could be reproduced and marketed. I think I know a bunch of people who would love these as T-shirts. (Me included)