SPOKANE, Wash. — For the thousands of Ukrainian-Americans living in the Inland Northwest, the crisis in Ukraine is heartbreaking and the Russian invasion enters its second week.
A local pizza restaurant in Coeur d'Alene is committed to helping those in need. This week, Malvagio's owners Matt Petersen and his wife Svetlana are donating a portion of their earnings to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
Petersen made the decision after his father, Nikolai, was wounded during the invasion. Petersen said his father was born in Odesa but has lived in Kyiv for a long time.
Petersen's father is 61 years old, which means he is too old to be called into service in the Ukrainian military as it fights back against Russia's invasion. However, his father joined the fight as his brother-in-law and mother left the country.
"Because of his age, they didn't want to let him in," Petersen explained. "But he kept pushing and they let him get on the lines and do his civil duties."
Petersen's father was working the roads to help Ukrainian vehicles get where they needed to be. Last week, however, Petersen got bad news.
"While he was doing that, he took a bullet in the hip," he said. "We got a call in the middle of the night explaining that, but he's had surgery and is stable."
Luckily, Nikolai is expected to recover.
While it may still be incredibly stressful times for Petersen and his wife, they decided they wanted to help the people of Ukraine in any way they could.
"We've had my mom in town, so they partnered up and started making borscht and wanting to give that money back," Petersen said.
The restaurant added borscht, a Ukrainian dish, to its menu.
Petersen decided to donate all the profits made from borscht sales between Wednesday and Saturday to Ukrainian humanitarian groups. He also plans to donate 10% of his total sales profit.
"It's been crazy. Very humbling, to be honest with you," Petersen said. "A little emotional thinking, you know, all these people come back."