Personal Viewpoint... Return to Ukraine

By Gary V. Brill

On May 28, I will be leaving San Miguel for the Birmingham in the UK, where I will join a convoy of what are termed “essential vehicles”. On the 31st, the convoy will set out for Lviv, Ukraine, where I was proud to serve as a volunteer working with displaced kids and badly wounded soldiers last summer. It is a beautiful city, one of Europe's oldest by far, full of beautiful people. More on that.

The convoy is put together under the auspices of a group of volunteers in the UK called DRIVING UKRAINE. To date, they have sent well over 200 of these critical vehicles to Ukraine. So, what is an “essential vehicle”? There are two kinds we are delivering, ambulances and 4X4 evacuation vehicles. They will all be fully stocked with medical supplies that are desperately needed.

The drivers are all volunteers, but the life-saving vehicles and the medical supplies must be purchased. Even after purchase, more volunteers work on them to get them fit for duty. These vehicles will face very rough duty, but they will be ready. Want to help and send a message that you stand with   Ukraine? Please go to this link and learn more about the volunteer program and how you can donate. It is quick, it is easy, every dollar helps.

www.donorbox.org/garyukraine

In spring of 2024, my wife Barbara and I decided we needed to shake things up just a tad. We lived in a very nice comfortable house in Denver, NC on Lake Norman, a huge freshwater lake. But, it was big for us and the kids were off and we talked about selling and moving for years. Always found a reason to stay a bit longer and a bit longer. (Does this story sound familiar?)

But no, last summer we drew the line and made the move. However, I had been talking to another volunteer group in Lviv about going over for a while to work with the kids. Barbara and I talked about it, and we decided she would stay and work on selling the house while I went to Ukraine. We have been married for over 35 years, and she could see that I was getting restless and had to go. Anyway, we figured the house would not sell before I came home.

The best laid plans often go awry, as the man said, and the house sold quickly. In Lviv, I was dealing with air raid sirens, daily power outages, incredible heat, sad kids who missed their homes and fathers who were all off fighting. Barbara all of a sudden had the pressure to show the house, make repairs (the house was hit by lightning the day it sold!), decide what we keep and what goes and a million other things that go with selling and moving, and she had to do it alone.

When I came home, after a short decompression in Krakow, we decided we both really needed to go find the calmest, most beautiful and friendly place on the planet. So we came to San Miguel de Allende. We went back to the States for a brief visit after our time here, then went to Portugal for a bit. We had lived in Budapest for ten years and wanted to return to Europe.

We were in Portugal for exactly two days when we looked at each other and said we should go back to live in San Miguel. One of the best things about our new home are the amazing people we have met and the wonderful friends we have made. People have been offering me support and donations for the upcoming drive. The concern I see on their faces and hear in their words is real, it is genuine, and it is appreciated.

I feel very strongly about the horror being unleashed on a nation at peace with the world. I have been there. I have seen what its effects are on people. I still have two students there I talk to every week.

If you feel as I do, then please go to the link and help us. I am a volunteer and pay my own way. Every donation goes directly to help pay for the vehicles and the medical supplies. You can show that you, too, stand with the people of a brave nation, a people who want nothing more than freedom and democracy.

I can be reached at gary@gvbwrites.com and www.gvbwrites.com