Town opens arms to refugees

ANOTHER VIEW


The Brine and Pinchuk families during a trip in May to Beavertail State Park. They are, left to right, Jackson Brine, Erik Brine, Lucy Brine, Kerry Brine, Dylan Brine, Yana Pinchuk, Viktoriia Pinchuk and Sasha Pinchuk. Oleksandr Pinchuk, not pictured, is a Ukrainian naval officer fighting the Russians in Europe.

The Brine and Pinchuk families during a trip in May to Beavertail State Park. They are, left to right, Jackson Brine, Erik Brine, Lucy Brine, Kerry Brine, Dylan Brine, Yana Pinchuk, Viktoriia Pinchuk and Sasha Pinchuk. Oleksandr Pinchuk, not pictured, is a Ukrainian naval officer fighting the Russians in Europe.

This story is about the good people of Jamestown, who provided my family with a safe haven from a wartime in Ukraine and have been continuing to support my wife and kids so far.

It started in 2017, when I arrived in the United States to become a Naval War College alumni. I spent a wonderful 11 months studying political and military matters on strategic level of state management.

One of the 51 students from 49 countries sharing a classroom with me was Erik Brine. He always was ready to give to me and my family a hand with issues, which are difficult for foreigners to resolve on their own and also tried to make us familiar with American culture better. Our first Thanksgiving, we spent at the Brine’s house.

On Feb. 24, 2022, life in Ukraine became divided on two parts — before that date and after it. My homeland was attacked by its neighbor Russia, which has a nuclear weapon, almost endless natural resources, a population four times that of Ukraine and a territory which is 28 times bigger than that of Ukraine.

Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory from the north, east and south. The entire country was under missile strikes. My duty to my homeland called me to stand up and fight against the fierce enemy. My duty to my family was to get them safe and secured.

Erik Brine was first to lend a helping hand. He was doing everything required to help me to get my family far from the danger. Banks in Ukraine stopped working, I couldn’t get my money to pay for my family’s travelling expenses and settled at a temporary place. He arranged funding using GoFundMe.

The American embassy scheduled an interview with my family about visas in six months — he contacted the embassy to shorten the time to one month. Before meeting my family in Boston, Erik had rented a house and stocked it with all that was needed. Since the very first day, he and his wife Kerry have been trying to facilitate my family’s adaptation to a new reality. Erik’s son Dylan became the best friend of my son, Sasha.

The house Erik Brine rented for my family belongs to another member of the Jamestown community who has a big heart and wonderful soul: Jack Hubbard. In addition to letting my family live in his house for free, Jack has been doing a lot to make us comfortable.

It would take a lot of time and space to list everything he did and keeps doing for the people he has never seen before. My son has found a “grandpa” in him. Jack has never refused to listen to my son’s stories or him playing the flute, or to play with him different games and much more.

Erik Brine and Jack Hubbard helped my family to make friends in Jamestown. Thanks to them, my wife and kids met a great doctor, Louis Mariorenzi, a man with a capital letter, Quentin Anthony, and many other kind people from Jamestown, whose priceless support provides the ability for my family to live and work safely.

Thanks to them, I can concentrate on fighting Russians to push them out of Ukraine. My gratitude to Erik Brine and his wonderful family, Jack Hubbard and his wife, Betty, Quentin Anthony and Dr. Louis Mariorenzi, and the other people of Jamestown who support my family. Americans are people of great generosity and hospitality, and I am sure the best of them live in Jamestown.

Oleksandr Pinchuk is an N3 chief, Maritime Command, in the Ukrainian Navy.