When the full-scale war broke out in Ukraine in 2022, Alan Himmer (SFS’89) and Paul Shmotolokha (SFS’89) wanted to get involved.
It didn’t take long for the two SFS graduates to act. Shmotolokha, the CEO and founder of New Use Energy, started supplying portable battery generators to Ukrainian hospitals through his company, and Himmer founded the Ukraine Crisis Aid Group to send nonlethal aid.
The alumni were classmates nearly 40 years ago but had lost touch. When they saw each other post about their Ukraine work in a Class of 1989 Facebook group, they had an idea.
“We both saw each other’s posts, and I was like, ‘Alan, let’s go do something together,’” Shmotolokha said.
Since then, the two have collaborated to replace destroyed ambulances and provide portable power supplies to medical facilities in Ukraine.
“This is about core American values. We’re protecting people who are aspiring to secure their freedom, and it’s within grasp. We want to be able to help with that,” Himmer said.
Delivering Aid to the Frontlines
The war in Ukraine is personal for both men. Shmotolokha’s parents were World War II Ukrainian refugees, and Himmer is a quarter Ukrainian and had recently reconnected with relatives in Ukraine who lost touch under the censorship of the Soviet Union.
Leveraging both of their long careers in international business, it didn’t take long for Shmotolokha and Himmer to launch their humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
In mid-2022, Himmer visited his extended Ukrainian family in the Lviv region in western Ukraine and learned about his family members involved in the war effort.
“You end up hearing about these people who are part of your family who are off with their friends and neighbors volunteering as medics, doctors and soldiers,” Himmer said. “We wanted to help. Then the idea hit us, what if we could get all of the things that they need to them more directly?”
Himmer and his wife started an Amazon gift registry that has evolved into the Ukraine Crisis Aid Group. The group organizes donors to supply nonlethal aid to civilians and soldiers, from medical supplies to socks, protein bars and protective gear.
While Himmer set up his Amazon registry, Shmotolokha was powering up his Ukrainian portable generator operation. Shmotolokha, who was in the Hoya Battalion, knew from his Army career how Ukraine’s power grid would be a prime war target. He also had experience delivering power units in crises such as natural disasters with New Use Energy.
Shmotolokha began organizing donors and sending portable generator units to Ukrainian medical facilities. The units provide an uninterrupted power supply for operating rooms, the emergency room and other medical equipment when the main power grids or backup generators are down.
Since 2022, New Use Energy has deployed over 600 portable power units in over 50 hospitals across Ukraine.
“I believe this is the most crowdfunded war in history,” Shmotolokha said. “When we were in Iraq and Afghanistan, you had the full weight of the American taxpayer. Ukraine doesn’t have those types of resources. A lot of the gaps are where NGOs step in, and a lot of it is online.”
Teaming Up For Ukraine
In February, Himmer was driving a van to Kherson in southern Ukraine loaded with Shmotolokha’s portable power units for ambulances. He drove through intense artillery bombardments and glide bomb attacks. It’s just one of several deliveries to Ukraine he makes personally every year.
Himmer has donated three used ambulances, which have been targets for Russian drones. When Shmotolokha and Himmer reconnected, they realized they could expand their impact by collaborating.
Himmer uses his network to expand fundraising efforts for portable power units, while Shmotolokha provides more units to medical facilities and ambulances.
They also brainstormed how to better protect ambulances.
“Here I am replacing destroyed ambulances, but what if we didn’t have to replace the ambulance in the first place and prevented them from getting hit by these drones?” Himmer said.
The two Hoyas equip ambulances with drone jammers that target the radio frequencies Russian drones use. The jammers are powered by Shmotolokha’s portable generators. They hope the modified ambulances will reduce the attrition rate for ambulances and save lives.
Himmer and Shmotolokha credit their Georgetown education with giving them the tools to contribute to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
“What fuels Alan and me is simple injustice. We were taught at Georgetown the Jesuit values of social justice … and we’re pretty good at it because of our SFS backgrounds,” Shmotolokha said. “We know how to move in these foreign locations. We know how to build organizations and work with them daily.”
When Himmer and Shmotolokha graduated, the Class of 1989 had a motto: Learning, Faith and Freedom. Thirty-six years later, the motto still speaks to them.
“We were definitely a class that was perhaps a bit idealistic, but we took learning, faith and freedom seriously,” Himmer said. “Paul and I are learning constantly from this, how to successfully deliver and meet these needs to help. Faith, that’s the deep sense of injustice. And freedom, that’s the alignment of our efforts with core American values.”
