Our new humanitarian aid project:

ASSISTANCE FOR NIZHYN ORPHANAGE FOR DISABLED CHILDREN AND YOUTH.

After the communication with the Orphanage’s director, we are organizing shipment of humanitarian aid for this care home which will include clothing, shoes, and ready-to-eat food. Requested items: 1) shoes (sneakers) for men and women, sizes 7 through 12 (adult sizes); 2) clothes: sweatpants, tights, warm socks, pajamas (S-XL sizes); 3) canned meat and canned fish for quick meals in shelters and during electricity blackouts. Other ready to eat food is also welcome. 4) Cash is also helpful, if possible. THANK YOU!

If able to donate the requested items please drop them off at 357 East Prospect Ave from September 1-10, 2025. We are planning on shipping the aid asap. THANK YOU!

State College welcomes new Fulbright scholars from Ukraine

Rallies in Support of Ukraine Update

You spoke and we heard you! Instead of a proposed once a month rally schedule for the new semester, we will be meeting every other week. Our next meeting will be on September 13, 2025, at the same place and time. We’ll send a reminder about it the day before the rally. THANK YOU for your support!

SISTER’S SISTER AT THE LION BASH

Please stop by at the Sister’s Sister table during the LION BASH on SEPTEMBER 4, 2025 from 5:00-8:00 pm. Our table is located at the same spot as last year (in the 100 block of South Aleen St). We will be making Ukrainian rag dolls – MOTANKAS with everyone stopping by. And we’ll be fundraising for Ukraine humanitarian needs, including the latest campaign for Nizhyn Orphanage for Disabled Children and Youth, and the medical supplies for Ukraine’s hospitals. We will have some gifts for our donors to choose from. Please bring your friends and neighbors, and share this information on your social media.

The first PennsylKrainian festival UKRAINE AT COLERAIN (here)

Thank you for being with us throughout the first PennsylKranian Festival of UKRAINE AT COLERAIN. We hope you enjoyed getting acquainted with Ukraine, its people and culture. Thank you for making your donations. You will hear from us about how the money was used in Ukraine. Please visit us on our website, and spread the word that Ukraine is in unbearable pain fighting for its own survival. See you at our other events.

We express our sincere gratitude to the Colerain Center for the Arts, Education, and Preservation for hosting our PennsylKranian festival on the grounds. And to Jordan Tyler Temchack of Rumble and Scream for suggesting the idea of the PennsylKrainian Festival in the Colerain Center.

We thank each and everyone who made this festival a reality! THANK YOU! ДЯКУЄМО!

SISTER’S SISTER at the ARTS FEST

THANK YOU everyone who visited Sister’s Sister’s booth at the Central Pennsylvania Arts Festival in State College, PA on July 10-12, 2025.

Please see our EVENTS page for the full report and lots of pictures from the Arts Fest, or click here.

Looking forward to seeing you at our future events and at the Arts Fest 2026!

Chervona Kalyna

(Transliteration)

Oi u luzi chervona kalyna pokhylylasia,
Chohos nasha slavna Ukraina zazhurylasia.

(Chorus – twice:)
A my tuyu chervonu kalynu pidiymemo,
A my nashu slavnu Ukrainu, hei-hei, rozveselymo!

Please, send us your recording of RED KALYNA song, and we’ll post it on our website.

RED VIBURNUM (KALYNA)

(Translation for singing)

In a meadow, there red kalyna has been bent down low,
For some reason, our glorious Ukraine, has been grieving so.

And we’ll take that red kalyna and we’ll raise it up,
And well, our glorious Ukraine shall, hey – hey, rise up and rejoice!

You can practice it singing with the German singer Marlaine Maas here (video link to the left). The English text above is slightly different from the English version sang by the singer (various translation versions for singing). Pick the one you like most. THANK YOU!

A young Dutch-Ukrainian girl, Lucia, graciously agreed to transfer the device to Lviv on her trip from the Netherlands to Kyiv, Ukraine. Truly, Ukrainians of the world (and Ukrainians-at-heart) unite!

Selected Zaporizhia Children’s posters are now on display at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, WA. They are part of the exhibition of “Healing and Hope in War Zones: Children’s Art from Gaza and Ukraine. The featured artwork offers “a glimpse into the realities of war through the eyes of the young” (Saint Mark’s Cathedral Newsletter). The exhibition will remain open through the summer.

We want to express our gratitude to Ms. Deborah Brown of St. Mark’s Visual Arts Ministry for noticing Ukrainian children’s art in in Skipping Stones magazine, and for organizing such an important event.

Keeping up the Ukrainian tradition of celebrating the Embroidery Shirt Day. Local residents and the current refugees from Ukraine got together sporting there embroidered garments. And you, as well, can join us next May to celebrate this unique holiday.

Many more pictures here

Please consider joining us every Saturday at 2:00 pm at the Main Gate on College Ave (corner of South Allen St) to show our unwavering support for Ukraine and its people. side of history!

Now more than ever, our voices matter. We need to stand together in solidarity and raise awareness about the ongoing struggle for Ukraine’s sovereignty and freedom. Your presence will send a strong message of support and unity.

Please spread the word and bring your friends, family, and anyone who stands for democracy and justice. Every person counts!

We have purchased and delivered ten bed tables for rehabilitation department of the Zhytomyr Multi-disciplinary Hospital of Novohuivynsk Council in Stashivka village. Tables are manufactured in Ukraine and will be used for occupational therapy for patients. Each hospital in Ukraine now has a mandate to care for both civilian and military individuals.

THANK YOU ALL WHO HELPED!

There are more packages with medical supplies and equipment on the way to Ukraine.

On Saturday, March 22, 2025, Sister’s Sister hosted Ukrainian table at the WPSU Multicultural Youth Festival. We shared the ancient Ukrainian craft of wrap-around (rag) doll making. Thanks to our numerous volunteers from the Ukrainian community we were able to “dress” and “gift” several hundred little rag dolls. Our table was very popular from the beginning until the very end. Special thanks to Olenka Voloshchuk and Zhanna Kaminska who were did most of the preparatory work. We also exhibited the second installment of posters from Zaporizhia children. Please see many more pictures here: EVENTS

Zaporizhia Children’s Posters on the cover of SKIPPING STONES.

The children’s posters from Zaporizhia that were exhibited at our benefit concert last March of the world reknowned virtuozo violin player Vasyl Popadiuk, as well as at the WPSU Multicultural Children’s Festival 2024, are now on the cover of the multicultural children’s literary magazine “SKIPPING STONES“. There is a short update on p.29 about young Zaporizhia artists and Sister’s Sister activities.

Please consider visiting the magazine’s website or to purchase a copy of this issue for your child, grandchildren, or a school library here.

We are very proud of Ukrainian children and their teachers creating beuatiful and powerful art despite the horrors of the ongoing war.

NEWS: We are working on procuring medical supply for rehabilitation departments of several hospitals in Ukraine, including Novohuivynsk Village Hospital, Zhytomyr region, Zhytomyr Regional Hospital, Lviv Rehabilitation Clinic of Western Region Military Medical Center, and others. Thousands of soldies, civilians and children have been injured by shelling, explosives, folling buildings debris. Many of the injured suffered severe traumatic brain and/or spine injuries, polytraumas, and are amputees of 1-4 parts of the body. The rehabilitation clinics lack heart monitorings sensors, security belts for learning to walk, vestibular training goggles, post amputation compression socks, mobile bed tables, etc. If you are interested and able to donate, please see here. THANK YOU!

CONGRATULATIONS! Another good deed accomplished! Upon the request of the Director of Nizhyn Children’s Care Home for Disabled and Orphans, Ms. Olena Harmash, we were able to procure two sets of movable ramps for their facility. Apparantly, they had issues moving children in wheel chairs during air raids from the care home building to the bombshelter and to their care home van. The staff measured the stairs length and the van entrance height. We needed to find a movable ramp 3 meters (yards) long for the stairs and 2 meters long for the bus. After a considerable search we were able to find an enterpreneur in the city of Dnipro (Ukraine) who was able to order and manufacture the required ramps in Ukraine. “All are happy and greatful!” Ms. Harmash reported and shared some pictures with us.

ZAPORIZHIA CHILDREN

have received their art supply packages!

Our sincere gratitude goes to everyone who made this project possible, including:

The Skipping Stones magazine for their donation of multiple children’s books, as well as earlier copies of the Skipping Stones magazines. THANK YOU!

Our friends and neighbors: Peg Hambrick, Margaret Sebastianelli, Nina White, Catherine Wanner, Lee Washesky, Michael Naydan, Will Jones, and others.

We have successfully procured and donated office equipment to Nizhyn Territorial Center for Social Services (social services provider). The Center for Social Services (CSS) provides social services to citizens in difficult life circumstances who need assistance at the place of residence and in day care centers. The Territorial CSS has 4 structural divisions, in particular:

1) Social Assistance at Home;

2) Targeted in-kind and cash assistance;

3) Adult Day Care;

4) Day Care for children with disabilities and adults with disabilities (“Vira” (Hope)).

At present, the center provides services to about 2,000 people, including the elderly, children with disabilities, individuals with disabilities, and individuals in difficult life situations who require social assistance and support. In connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, these are the categories of citizens who require more attention and special care.

Due to the limited funding of the institution and the lack of ewsources, the Center was unable to meet some of the needs for outfitting and modernizing their premises to create appropriate conditions for the elderly, children with disabilities and disabled individuals, and to provide quality social services.

Thanks to our fund-raising efforts, we were able to raise funds to help Nizhyn CSS. Our first installment of office equipment was delevired to the Center last week. (Please, see the pictures below.) The entire aid package was procured from the Ukrainian office supply company from the city of Rivne. We are now working on the second aid installment.

We have an official THANK YOU letter from Nizhyn CSS, which is now being translated and will be posted shortly. THANK YOU ALL WHO WERE ABLE TO HELP!!!

The staff in the video thanks Sister’s Sister of State College for the invaluable assistance. Our aid package included two laptop computers with Windows OS, two printers/scanners, a projector, and a 55″ flat screen TV.

In the video on the left, the staff is testing the printer. Just check what comes out from the printer:

ДЯКУЮ ( DIA-koo-you!),

aka THANK YOU in English!

Lock Haven Garden Club Stone Sculpture

THANK YOU, LOCK HAVEN!

The Sunflower Gratitude wall is located at 1402 South Atherton Street in State College, PA. It was painted by Ukrainian visitors, local residents of Ukrainian origin and their friends led by Dr. Ludmila Kuzmych. It is dedicated to the 32nd Independence Day of Ukraine.