D91 school board member in Ukraine, shares artwork with refugee children
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IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls school board member is spending time in Ukraine, passing out pictures that students in Idaho have made for children who have lost everything.
Paul Haacke, an Idaho Falls School District 91 school board member, is on his second trip currently in Europe to help refugees dealing with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Both of his trips were an idea he came up with and a personal decision that he funded on his own.
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“The trip has gone well and has exceeded all expectations. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s just eyes wide open on how big the needs are and how widespread the needs are,” Haacke explained.
Haacke left for his second trip at the end of April to Krakow, Poland and will return to Idaho Falls on May 14.
He brought hundreds of pictures that were drawn by District 91 students to Ukraine so he could hand them out to students. The idea was inspired by a man when he went on his first trip. He saw the man passing out pictures to children near the Ukraine and Poland border.
Haacke said he asked teachers in District 91 that he wanted pictures from students that let refugees know that there are people on the other side of the world that care about them.
He explained that so far, he has given a majority of the pictures out to children around Ukraine. He has about 30 or so left.
Haacke said he has spent time in Chernihiv, Ukraine and has seen the damage caused by the conflict with Russia such as houses flattened, hospitals reduced to rubble and schools destroyed.
He told EastIdahoNews.com that he met a boy named Daniel in Chernihiv who was staring at his school, called School Number 21, which was destroyed by a missile.
“(I) started talking to him. I said, ‘Can I give you something?’ And I pulled out two pictures and he got the biggest smile on his face and I said, ‘These are from America.’ He said ‘Really?’ I pointed to the state of Idaho on one picture. He sat and stared at those pictures. He was so proud of them. It put the biggest smile on his face,” said Haacke.
Daniel is taking school online since he can’t attend due to the damage.
While Haacke was at the school and was about to leave, he noticed a little girl standing nearby holding her mom and dad’s hands.
“I asked her parents if this was her school and she was just very somber staring at her school…I pulled out some pictures that some first and second graders had drawn (from District 91) and she got the biggest smile on her face,” said Haacke. “Her parents said she hasn’t smiled very much anymore…I said (to her), ‘Everyone is cheering for you.'”
There’s still a lot of work to be done in helping the people of Ukraine according to Haacke. Haacke’s first trip to Europe lasted 15 days. He did everything from helping families get through passport control and border checkpoints to shuttling families to the airport and train station.
He said the trip has made him grateful for where he is from in the United States.
“We are incredibly blessed to live where we live, to have the freedoms that we have, and to have the life that we have and to be blessed with what we have. That’s the huge takeaway…these people literally have nothing. They have lost everything,” said Haacke.
