“It had tons of impact,” the Kettering City Councilwoman said. “You just can’t help hearing that — every night it was dinner table conversations about what was going on in both Dayton and in the world.
Credit: FILE
Credit: FILE
“Many people have heard him talk about Ethiopia. And that began when I was 6. He had his first trip over there and started thinking about hunger,” she added.
“And I remember saving my pennies starting at that age and just seeing how the commercials on TV would affect my dad after that trip. So, this has also been my lifelong pursuit as taught and mentored by my dad.”
Jyl Hall and members of the local Ukrainian community are hosting The Ukraine Benefit: Feeding and Healing Communities Together. It is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Polen Farm.
The benefit aims to aid relief efforts to residents of the eastern European country, which in 1991 gained independence from the former USSR and was invaded by Russia on Feb. 24.
The event will be attended by local business leaders and elected officials, and is sponsored by regional non-profits and businesses, according to Hall.
Proceeds will go to the World Central Kitchen and Razom, which provide food and medical supplies to Ukraine, she said.
The event will feature Ukrainian food, music and art, as well as the opportunity to hear from members of the local Ukrainian community.
More than 10 million people are already thought to have fled their homes in Ukraine because of the invasion, the BBC recently reported, citing United Nations’ data.
The parents of Kettering resident and Ukraine native Anastasia Nagle were among them. Hall said Nagle’s brother remains there.
“By uniting the Ukrainian diaspora in our city with well-wishing Americans,” Nagle said in a statement about the fundraiser, “we hope to be able to achieve our mission of saving precious lives, and bringing Ukraine closer to victory.”
The benefit will help keep the country’s fight to maintain independence at the forefront in this area, Hall said.
“What they’re going through with immediate family members who are in Ukraine and not knowing whether they’re going to be alive the next day moved me,” she said.
Humanitarian efforts like these are a key reason Hall said she entered politics, becoming the third generation in her family — her grandfather was former Dayton Mayor Dave Hall — to hold elected office.
“There’s opportunity to shine light on things that elected officials bring. And then there’s communities working together,” she said. “And I hope that the fundraising effort and the support effort for Ukraine continues here in Kettering and Dayton well beyond this fundraiser.”
UKRAINE FUNDRAISER
•What: The Ukraine Benefit: Feeding and Healing Communities Together
•When: 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday
•Where: Polen Farm, 5099 Bigger Road, Kettering
•More info.: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ukraine-benefit-feeding-and-healing-communities-together-registration-314986722767
About the Author
