"We want to help them. We need to assist in every corner of the United States."

A call to action.

That's what Steven Geiger, creator of the Mensch International Foundation, asks people throughout the Coachella Valley to assist individuals of Ukraine.

Steve Geiger

"We are in touch with individuals in Hungary, we are linked to people in Germany, and we are connected to people in Israel," Geiger explained. "People that are going to these three countries, Non-Jewish or Jewish, whatever they require help with and whatever cash we get together, it goes to them. So, if you give a dollar, it goes exactly where it's supposed to go."

Whether for food, clothing, or gas for cars and trucks, Geiger asks the desert neighborhood to assist the countless refugees in Europe who are having difficulty getting basic needs.

Geiger has another message.

"We, as Americans, have got to stop him," he said. "The grassroots people need to write to their congressmen, to their senators, to the vice president, to the president.

However, there's a more significant reason that he is so determined.

Geiger is a refugee of war.

"We left Hungary on November 29, 1956. Russian tanks shot at our apartment building. It caught on fire. We had to escape for our lives from the building from the hideout in the basement."

Geiger came to the United States when he was barely nine years old. His path getting here is strangely comparable to what individuals are currently experiencing in Ukraine and Europe.

"My dad ultimately got his sponsorship from his cousin, and we wound up in New Jersey. There was a Hungarian refugee camp in New Jersey. Camp Kilmer 70,000 Hungarians came during that time to the United States. So, 200,000 left Hungary, 70,000 to the United States. So, I'm connected to this mentally because I sort of lived this."

Likewise, the foundation hopes to honor President Zelensky as they have done for three other presidents.

See below for ways to help support Ukrainian refugees through the Mensch International Foundation.

http://www.menschfoundation.org/Donate.htm

Visit their website: http://www.menschfoundation.org

Email: MenschFoundation@yahoo.com