Americans must help Ukrainians—for the sake of their lives and our legacy

Woody Johnson, proprietor of the New York Jets, writes that serving to Ukraine is not only an act of compassion, it is the American approach.
AFP through Getty Pictures

In July, my household and I traveled to Poland, a nation at the moment internet hosting nicely over a million Ukrainian refugees. Our aim was to higher grasp the extent of the Ukrainian peoples’ struggling. What we noticed shook us to the core.

In a single metropolis, we visited a boarding home overflowing with ladies and kids, paralyzed with nervousness at what's going to turn out to be of their husbands and fathers on the battlefield. One other cease took us to an orphanage, the place the grins of the youngest youngsters at playtime masks deep traumas.

These miseries have turn out to be commonplace among the many downtrodden Ukrainian individuals. And Individuals should proceed to assist relieve them — for the sake of their lives and our nationwide legacy.

Standing with the Ukrainian individuals is a mission of deep household significance. My spouse Suzanne’s mom was born to Ukrainian immigrant mother and father, and her father immigrated to the US from Ternopil, Ukraine, after World Battle II. However my concentrate on serving to Ukrainians stems far past household blood — it’s additionally a matter of upholding America’s management position on the planet.

Johnson along with his spouse, Suzanne, whose mom was born to immigrants from Ukraine and father was born within the Ukrainian metropolis of Ternopil and got here to the US after World Battle II.

Picture courtesy of the Johnson household

Stefan and Marie Ircha, the mother and father of Johnson’s spouse Suzanne, on their wedding ceremony day. For Johnson, the Ukraine connection is private.

From 2017 to 2021, I had the good honor of serving as the US Ambassador to the UK. That have confirmed me the significance of sustaining America’s dedication as a power for worldwide good — a observe file unmatched by some other nation in human historical past.

The historic examples of our willingness to assist are countless, however I feel typically of how the US and Britain refused to let the Soviet Union use hunger as a weapon in opposition to West Berlin once they closed off a part of that metropolis from outdoors provides. For 11 months in 1948 and 1949, the 2 allies airlifted 2.3 million tons of meals, gasoline and different provisions proper into the blockaded area to maintain West Berliners alive.

Throughout World Battle II, my grandfather Robert Wooden Johnson reached the rank of brigadier normal and was extensively often called “Basic Johnson.” He additionally penned the Johnson & Johnson credo: “We're accountable to the communities through which we reside and work and to the world group as nicely.”

Individuals perceive the that means of those phrases, particularly this 12 months with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US authorities has contributed greater than $1.5 billion in humanitarian help to Ukraine for the reason that starting of the warfare — by far probably the most of any nation. However what makes Individuals a very particular individuals is our dedication to philanthropy that far exceeds what our tax dollars pay for.

Johnson’s sons, Jack and Brick, go to the Sanatorium Uzdrowiskowe in Rymanow-Zdroj, Poland, which hosts displaced Ukrainian youngsters for 2 week-long camps.

Fran Nitti

We see it within the hundreds of Individuals opening their houses to Ukrainian refugees. We see church buildings in Iowa serving to provide meals to Ukrainians all through Europe. We see a 17-year-old woman on Lengthy Island beginning a program at her faculty to deliver toys to Ukrainian youngsters.

These tales ought to encourage us all to motion, particularly because the disaster turns into extra pressing. The warfare appears to don't have any finish in sight, and roughly 5.8 million Ukrainians have turn out to be refugees alongside the roughly 6.2 million Ukrainians displaced inside their very own nation. They and people caring for them want our assist, which is why the Jets have pledged an preliminary dedication of $1 million to assist Ukrainians.

A firefighter involves assistance from civilians following an air strike within the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut this previous July. Scenes like this have led to an enormous Ukrainian refugee disaster throughout Europe.

AFP through Getty Pictures

Often called Basic Johnson, Woody’s grandfather Robert Wooden Johnson wrote the Johnson & Johnson credo: “We're accountable to the communities through which we reside and work and to the world group as nicely.”

That cash is being distributed in $100,000 increments to worthy organizations spearheading reduction efforts, together with Plast Scouting, Razom for Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Nationwide Girls’s League of America. July’s donation went to United24, the Ukrainian authorities’s official arm for amassing charitable donations. I’m grateful to know these funds will assist fund a number of youngsters’s hospitals in Ukraine, the place many youths are recuperating from wounds brutally inflicted by falling rockets and missiles.

Some Individuals could query why humanitarian help for the Ukrainian individuals ought to stay a precedence, in mild of so many issues raging in our personal nation. For one, it’s morally proper for the richest nation on earth to commit some portion of its sources to look after these past its borders. It’s additionally firmly in our nationwide curiosity for the world to see which nation defends the oppressed and cares for the susceptible. When America involves the rescue, we earn belief, respect and credibility within the eyes of different nations, and create a strong distinction between us and adversaries comparable to China, Russia and Iran in our excessive respect for human dignity.

Lengthy Island teen Jessica Vartanov launched a partnership with Toys for Tots to deliver much-needed reduction provides to Ukrainian youngsters.

When the historical past books are written, the world will know which nation got here to the rescue extra enthusiastically than some other.

One among my heroes, Winston Churchill, as soon as recalled a comment he had heard as a younger man: “The USA is sort of a gigantic boiler. As soon as the fireplace is lighted below it there isn't any restrict to the ability it will probably generate.”

I'm happy with how Individuals have but once more revealed our nationwide character and concern for humanity in our world-leading generosity towards Ukrainians. Now that our fireplace is lit, let’s hold harnessing our limitless energy to serve them.

Robert Wooden Johnson is the Chairman of the New York Jets. He served because the US Ambassador to the UK, 2017-2021.