Siversk 🇺🇦 & Weston 🇺🇸
From Family-Friendly Town to Frontline Struggle
Siversk is a small city in the Bakhmut region of Ukraine, located 62 miles north of Donetsk. The city was founded in 1784 as a mining town and named after the nearby River Siverskyi. Much like Weston, prior to the war, Siversk was a family friendly town, with a little more than 10,000 residents. The two cities joined together in May 2023, bridging their communities with hope for the future.
This is more than a gesture. It comes from the very heart of what Weston is all about, a spirit of generosity, an awareness that regardless of distance we are connected to those whose circumstances are very, very different from ours, ” said Samantha Nestor, Weston First Selectwoman.
Siversk remains close to the front line and the war has left a devastating impact on the town. For two years Siversk has gone without gas or electricity. Internet and cell phone connectivity is limited. Flattened by shelling, only one of their three schools remain. Even the college where students learned farming and how to operate agricultural machinery was destroyed.
A little piece of American heart will make the Ukrainian heart even bigger than it is now” said the Mayor of Siversk, Alexey Vorobiev.
Mayor Vorobiev has worked hard to ensure nearly all children in Siversk are evacuated. Nearly 100 children went to the Carpathian mountains for safe refuge. The Weston Committee has now sent all of these students to special camps where they reunited with their teachers and each other after months of online learning.
DIRECT AID TO SIVERSK, UKRAINE
In accordance with our core principles, we work diligently to maintain real time relationships with community leadership that allow us to focus donations on the specific needs of each city.
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February 19, 2024
A second group of students traveled to the Carpathians for a 10 day adventure! Thank you to our Weston Committee for fundraising to ensure all the children of Siversk have the chance to experience this opportunity.
February 11, 2024
The Weston Committee raised funds to send the students of Siversk to a 10 day trip to the Ukrainian Carpathians. The students of Siversk have been studying remotely spread across the region as they had already evacuated Siversk.
February 6, 2024
The Weston Committee organized a cultural exchange event between a middle school in Weston,Ct and students in Siversk. The video call invited over 30 students into a conversation to share about their respective cities, favorite activities, and to learn from each other. The Weston students also presented a short presentation with some history on Weston.
October, 2023
A major request of the Mayor of Siversk was a van to alleviate the evacuation and deliveries into and out of Siversk.
The UAI team worked to locate a vehicle just for that purpose! It was delivered to the community by our VP Marshall Mayer, and Director of Operations Bogdan in early October.
September, 2023
Urgent needs arise in front line communities sometimes overnight. The latest of which was a request for rat poison. With air raids overhead civilians are often forced into basements and bunkers. In an effort to provide more cleanliness and comfort to our neighbors in Siversk, Weston urgently fundraised for the delivery of rat poison.
Interested in getting involved?
Join the Friendship City Committee
Each Friendship City has a group of volunteers who organize events, fundraisers, and community engagement to keep morale high and our neighbors involved in the work. We are always grateful to have new volunteers join these efforts.
