About Us
NH4Ukraine.org (previously Bedford4Ukraine.com) is an all-volunteer organization started by longtime Bedford residents and friends Brian Nolen and John Fitzgerald shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Brian and John recognized the need, had the time and desire to help, and thus got right to work.
NH4Ukraine.org is partnered with United-Ukraine.org, a California-based 501(c)(3) registered non-profit. Your tax-deductible donation through their site will enable NH4Ukraine to purchase and deliver aid directly to Ukrainian refugees.
Brian and John have now embarked on 6 humanitarian trips to Poland and Ukraine to supply refugee centers with critically needed goods. Preparations for trip #7 this spring are under way!
About Brian
Like many people, I watched with a mix of sadness and anger as Russia’s totally unjustified invasion of Ukraine unfolded in February 2022. The indiscriminate shelling of remote farming villages, the deliberate bombing of civilian targets, the blatant aggression, the heartbreaking scenes of elderly people fleeing their homes – for me it felt like I was watching something akin to Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 at the start of World War 2, only this time it was in real time.
My initial instinct was to donate to a charity in Ukraine, which I did. But for some reason, writing a check and stopping there just didn’t seem to be enough. This time, I felt a call to action like never before. I didn’t know how to help out, but I knew one thing: doing nothing was NOT an option. I had to go there and help out in some way, but how?
About John
I’m John Fitzgerald, US Navy veteran and retired air traffic controller. I grew up in New York and New Jersey and, for the last thirty years, have been a resident of New Hampshire, where my wife and I raised our two children.
In February 2022, I watched as Russia launched an unprovoked, full-scale invasion of its sovereign neighbor, Ukraine. Scenes of women, children, the elderly and the infirm fleeing their modest homes to take refuge in unfamiliar places for an unspecified future convinced me that I needed to help. I spoke with my friend Brian Nolen and learned that he felt the same way and was, in fact, flying to Poland the following day to aid a refugee center in Przemysl. I told my wife of Brian’s plans and she said, “You should go.” So, I did.
THE VOLUNTEERS:
NH4Ukraine is lucky to have a group of volunteers who help in all sorts of areas. Thank you to Kara LaMarche, Shana Potvin, Jeff Kerr, Lynn Cornell, Katy Cutshall, and countless others who have helped make this endeavor a reality!