New School Resources Foster Connection

A goal of the Light the Future Campaign was to create a permanent home for the Center for Peace, Equity and Justice, which drives all values-based co-curricular programming at Friends, while also providing the technology that enables students to build bridges to their peers across the globe.

This vision became tangible in December when US students spoke face-to-face with peers at SpivDiia, a Ukrainian organization that unites volunteer, state, and business initiatives for humanitarian aid and support services to benefit the citizens of Ukraine. Parent Liev Schreiber ’85 worked with SpivDiia during a humanitarian visit to the region and facilitated the introduction. Despite language barriers, Friends students felt the weight of the Ukrainian experience during their conversation.

After asking Ukrainian peers how their lives have changed since the start of the war, Friends students heard about how staying active and helping others made it easier for one Ukrainian student to process the emotional trauma of war. Others spoke about their daily mental health struggles and their deep desire to return to school. Another student asked how they can help from 5,000 miles away, and a Ukrainian student responded by saying, “We are grateful for the humanitarian aid. It helps to know we are not alone. You can help by drawing attention to this war on social media. We will fight together.”

History Department Chair Stefan Stawnychy urged the community to keep this war in the forefront of their consciousness and to seek authentic news sources to avoid misinformation. Plans are underway to organize more conversations with SpivDiia.