SVU New York and Jitro Choir from Hradec Králové team up to send help to Ukraine

In June 2022, SVU New York helped to organize an outstanding concert of the Czech girls’ choir Jitro at Merkin Hall in Kaufman Music Center in NYC. Their repertoire consisted of classical Czech and international songs, sacred music, and contemporary Czech compositions. Together with Jitro’s choirmaster, Jiri Skopal, we decided to donate all concert proceeds to a concrete project helping people in war-torn Ukraine. Our board member, Vera Dvorak, suggested a grassroots initiative of volunteers delivering essential food and toiletries to a Byzantine Catholic parish in Khust, Zakarpattia Oblast – a former part of Czechoslovakia – run by Ms. Rybová from Strelice near Brno and by the priest Myroslav Barnychko. The food is distributed under his supervision to refugees staying in local gyms and parish halls where they found temporary asylum.

It has been eight months (!) since Russia attacked Ukraine and the help coming in is clearly weakening – though it’s just as needed now as at the beginning of the war. On the same day we sent our gift of $530 (13.500 in CZK), the volunteers set out already on their 19th trip with a small truck and a pickup loaded with food.

For more information, please read here (in Czech).

You can contribute directly to Pavla Rybova’s account. It is a small private initiative and they do not have a separate account.

Czech Bank account:Pavla Rybová 670100-2207448813 / 6210 mBank
Pavla Rybová
tel. 607 546 197
pavla.rybova@email.cz

vera Dvorak and Jitro in NYC
Jitro in Merkin Hall
Food delivery to Chust- Ukraine
Help in Chust