Rotary event focuses on Ukraine

The Rotary Club of Kalispell hosts “A Window on Ukraine,” on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at the Wachholz College Center on the Flathead Valley Community College campus.  

The evening includes stories, award-winning photography, project demonstrations, and film that illuminate Ukraine’s history, culture, and spirit. Attendees will learn some of the ways Rotary International responds to critical humanitarian needs in Ukraine and around the world through local and global partnerships.  

The program begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at www.wachholzcollegecenter.org, or at the door. Prices are $11/student and $27.50/adult. 

Also available is a limited number of VIP tickets ($110) which include priority seating for the program and a private, catered reception from 5-6 p.m. with keynote speaker John Hewko, General Secretary and CEO of Rotary International, and special guest speaker Yuri Zinchenko, a Rotary International Global Grant scholar from Ukraine. 

All proceeds from the evening will benefit “Power Up Ukraine.” a Rotary-led project that delivers mobile, lithium battery-powered, Solar+ backup generators to hospitals, mobile clinics, and humanitarian hubs across Ukraine. 

In partnership with the Rotary Club of Evergreen, Colorado, and New Use Energy, Power Up Ukraine sources and delivers Solar+ generators directly from its Lviv warehouse to frontline hospitals and essential facilities. To date, the Rotary Club of Kalispell has funded two Power Up units and hopes proceeds from A Window on Ukraine will generate additional support for the campaign, especially as winter approaches and the need for power is increasingly urgent. 

Keynote speaker John Hewko holds a law degree from Harvard University, a master’s in modern history from the University of Oxford where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a bachelor’s in government and Soviet studies from Hamilton College, New York. He speaks five languages: English, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. 

Hewko served as the vice president for operations and compact development at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government agency, where he negotiated foreign assistance agreements totaling $6.3 billion for 18 countries in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, water and sanitation, health, and education. 

Hewko has served as Rotary International’s general secretary and chief executive officer since 2011, overseeing a staff of more than 800, who serve Rotary members from Rotary world headquarters in Evanston, Illinois and seven international offices. He is a member of the Rotary International Board of Directors and The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees. 

A charter member of the Rotary Club of Kyiv, Ukraine, Hewko lives out Rotary’s mission. He has immunized children against polio in India, represented Rotary at the World Economic Forum, and each year bicycles 104 miles with Rotarians from Arizona and the West to help raise over $50 million for polio eradication.  

“It’s an honor to go the extra mile in serving this great organization,” he said. “I see Rotary as the original social network formed to exchange ideas and resources so we can transform lives. We are a bold NGO that believed it could end a disease, and we’ve stuck to the cause for over three decades. That thought inspires me every morning." 

Special guest Yuri Zinchenko, a Ukrainian lawyer with more than 20 years of experience, fled Kharkiv with his young family in 2022. Resettling in Whitefish, Zinchenko collaborated with local Rotarians to launch the Power Up Ukraine campaign, securing solar generators for frontline hospitals. With a Rotary International Foundation scholarship, he recently completed his master of laws at UC-Irvine and continues to work for Ukraine’s recovery and peace while preparing for the U.S. bar. 

For more information visit www.rotary.org or www.kalispellrotary.org