When Nick and Kerri Laper left Ukraine for an international vacation in mid-February, they had pondered to their travel agent about whether they’d be able to come back.
At that point, there were rumblings of military action by the Russian military, but the Lapers’ travel agent had been more flippant about it, convinced an invasion wouldn’t happen. So the couple packed up their momentos just in case before leaving for vacation in Egypt – and haven’t returned since, as a no-fly zone was established in Ukraine.
Instead, the Lapers are now back at their Fitchburg home – where they spend around a third of their year as they’ve split their time between Wisconsin and Ukraine for the last two decades. There, they are working daily to keep their mission work going by funneling shipments of food into the war-torn country through their networks of people in Poland and Ukraine, as well as keep tabs on their staff, some of whom have fled the country and others who have been forced to stay because they are men between the ages of 18-60.
Read more of this story: https://www.fitchburgstar.com/news/community/having-left-ukraine-in-february-with-few-ways-to-return-fitchburg-residents-coordinate-aid-for/article_7cc90934-a480-11ec-a55a-bb87bba6ada6.html