SEWICKLEY – Natalyia DiDomenico went through a number of emotional swings watching Russia invade her home country three months ago.
On Feb. 24, while sitting at home with her husband, DiDomenico, a global studies teacher at Sewickley Academy, watched in horror as missiles rained down on her home country of Ukraine. A native of Ternopil, DiDomenico immigrated to the United States in 2007.
While watching missiles strike her home country, throwing her fellow Ukrainians into a war they wanted nothing to do with, DiDomenico experienced confusion, anger, and then empathy.
“I remember very vividly that night, my husband and I were watching the news that night, and the news was reporting strikes in Kiev. I couldn’t believe, I honestly couldn’t believe that this was happening,” she said recently. “My first thought was this was a mistake. Maybe it was a training exercise gone wrong, or trying to scare people because of what was going on with NATO.
“Then, obviously we found out it was real, and that really hit home. It’s a new reality that we will have to live with now. I remember calling my brother, and I told him, ‘you have to get in the car, take mom, take your family and get to Poland. Leave now.’ I couldn’t convince them. They all stayed.”
Though the confusion and anger still remains, DiDomenico — who still has family in the western part of the country near Ternopil that is unaffected by the fighting at this time — did the best thing she could do at the moment: find a way to help.
Thanks to support from her students and fellow staff at Sewickley Academy, DiDomenico is doing just that.
In recent weeks, DiDomenico and members of her global studies class, as well as faculty and staff coordinated a Ukrainian Crisis Relief Campaign, gathering monetary donations and countless necessities that will be primarily donated through two organizations, DT Care and Brother’s Brother Foundation in Pittsburgh.
Along with DiDomenico, Sewickley Academy mathematics teacher Matt Michaels has a close connection to Ukraine as his grandfather was born there, allowing his family to maintain a close connection to the European country. Having two teachers closely connected to the country in need spurned students to take action.
“When it first started, the students approached me and wanted to do something for the people of Ukraine,” DiDomenico said. “The most popular thing at the time was collecting hygiene products and making monetary donations because of all the necessities that are required for people that we displaced and are looking for shelter in Poland, and Romania and all of the Eastern European countries, as well as in the western part of Ukraine.
“When they came to me and said that they wanted to do this, it was an easy direction to take,” she added.
“The support from everyone has been tremendous,” DiDomenico said. “It seems like everyone throughout the entire school wanted to be part of it in any way they could.”
To kick off their campaign in the Senior School, students and staff were encouraged to dress in blue and yellow for school on April 12 to show their support for the Ukrainian cause. According to Sewickley Academy, students then arranged for a group photo which was turned into postcards, allowing students and staff the opportunity to write notes on the back of the cards. DiDomenico provided cheat sheets with English to Ukrainian translations to provide words of encouragement.
The postcards have been included with the donations, according to Sewickley Academy Communications Manager Jennifer Donovan.
Along with monetary donations totaling $273.24 in cash raised for the people of Ukraine from Sewickley Academy during its Ukraine Crisis Relief Campaign, students, faculty and staff collected hygiene items that included 40 boxes of gallon-size resealable bags, along with 200 bars of soap, 86 containers of hand lotion, 72 washcloths, and 60 tubes of toothpaste, as well as travel-size toothbrushes with caps/cases, deodorant, mouthwash, dental floss, disinfecting wipes, lip balm and hair ties, according to Sewickley Academy.
Middle School students also competed in the campaign to bring in the most supplies. Donations from the middle school included 36 fleece blankets, 254 bottles of body wash, 312 packs of tissues, 136 bars of soap, 160 deodorants, as well as toothpaste, lotion, hand sanitizer, shampoo and conditioner, bandages and more.
Additionally, the Lower School students were invited to contribute in any way possible resulting in 357 additional toiletry items. The Lower School faculty made a monetary donation to Direct Relief for Ukraine.
“It’s an incredible opportunity, really, and a very bittersweet feeling because I wish I didn’t have to do this and the people of Ukraine didn’t have to face these types of circumstances,” DiDomenico said. “But on the other hand, it really warms my heart to see how people of the world united to help Ukrainians, to send help, provide resources.
“It is really a great testament that our humanity still has hope so that we can survive and help support each other like this.”
Outside of the competitions to collect toiletry items and other items of necessity, DiDomenico, Michaels and students hosted a custom-ordered pizza sale Friday at the Senior School. All the money raised from the sales was donated to the Ukrainian branch of Caritas International.
Students helped Michaels and DiDomenico help make and roll out dough, as well as assemble, bake and box the pizzas for delivery.
In total, the pizza fundraiser sold 80 pizzas in total, raising another $1,200 for Ukraine.
Aside from the campaign to help support the people of Ukraine, DiDomenico has felt the support of her fellow faculty, staff and students. She found her office door decorated in Ukrainian colors and covered in notes of support from her students shortly after the war in Ukraine started.
“I was very overwhelmed emotionally by all the support. It took me a little bit of time emotionally to get to the point where I could thank everybody,” DiDomenico said. “You never know what to expect in the time of need, but I was really not surprised that our community had such a wonderful response.
“We have so many kind, absolutely incredibly kind people here that want to be involved, want to help. It meant the world to me; it really did. I’ve been here at the academy for 10 years now, and this is not the first time that I was personally able to feel the support of the community, parents, students, teachers,” she added. “So many colleagues reached out to me, stopped by, sent an email. It just speaks volumes about Sewickley Academy. It’s a big family.”
Contact Joshua Carney at [email protected] or 724-681-9136. Follow Joshua on Twitter: @ByJoshCarney.
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