Trudy Rubin is the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and a member of its editorial board. She is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for her commentary on global issues and a recipient of the Arthur Ross Award for distinguished analysis of foreign affairs, as well as the Edward Weintal prize for international reporting. Ms. Rubin has special expertise on the Middle East, South Asia, Russia, and Eastern Europe, and last visited Ukraine just weeks ago.

Oksana DiRicco is Vice President of the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council. The UACC is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has supported Ukraine and the Diaspora community since the 1960s. Upon the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UACC has focused its efforts on procuring and delivering military-grade self-defense equipment, with shipments of helmets, body armor, and drones going straight to Ukrainian civilians fighting for their freedom.

Aaron Epstein is the founder and president of the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group (GSMSG), a 501(c)3 organization that provides medical relief in conflict zones. With a background in both national security and medicine, he has led nearly a dozen GSMSG deployments of medical/surgical groups to Iraq since 2015, as well as to South America and Africa. At the outset of the Russian invasion, Dr. Epstein and his GSMSG teams of US Special Operations veterans and medical professionals were the first on the ground to assist and train the Ukrainian population and military in combat casualty care.

Yana Rathman oversees fundraising and corporate giving at Nova Ukraine, a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nova Ukraine has focused exclusively on Ukraine since it was founded in 2014. They have worked in Ukraine on a number of humanitarian causes, educational initiatives and civil society projects and provided relief to medical facilities and doctors in Ukraine during COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the war started Nova Ukraine has shifted ALL their efforts to humanitarian aid. They do not help to equip the military, but concentrate on saving human lives. Their people in the US are professionals and dedicated volunteers; they volunteer time fully to ensure that 100% of the aid reaches Ukraine. They have proven and established partners on the ground in Ukraine that they trust, and regularly communicate and update corporate partners on their progress.

Mike Strauss is a Philadelphia chef who volunteers with World Central Kitchen. He is the owner of Mike’s BBQ and Sidecar Bar & Grill. Chef Strauss recently spent a week working with WCK on the Polish border towns of Przemysl and Medyka, cooking made-from-scratch meals and serving food to Ukrainian refugees.