YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Steve Wollett says it was hearing the stories from his Ukrainian friends that made him want to go and help.
The first and last time Steve Wollett was in Ukraine was back in 2020.
It was there where he met lifelong friends, some of whom are still stuck in the middle of the conflict.
“It’s a little rough," he said. "It’s nerve wracking. I’m finding myself staring at the news everyday, checking my emails, checking my Telegram (app)," he said.
He recalled a specific story shared by a friend who was trying to get her family out of the small village where they live, when Russian tanks came rolling in.
“There was a little bit of a firefight in her neighborhood, which wasn’t as big of a deal, but after it settled down, the Russian soldiers were standing outside her house and her brother went out the front door to go and communicate with them, and they shot him in the doorway," Wollett said.
Steve says it was then that he decided that he could not just sit around and do nothing.
An army vet and a former firefighter and paramedic, he is going to the border with a lot of experience under his belt.
He is planning on meeting with two organizations, and will be working with one of them to either help with refugees on the polish side of the border or he will be going into Ukraine, rescuing people and bringing them to Poland.
“If something would happen to my family, I’d want someone to step up and do something about it, if they had the means to, and it didn’t put them at great risk," he said. "I have the means, and I’m willing to take the risk. Hopefully, I survive this, hopefully I come back with a great story that my grandkids will be able to tell their grandkids."
Wollett is planning to fly to Poland the first week of May.