The Bilan family of Ukraine —Yevheniia, the mother; Ihor, the father; and their son and daughter, Arkadii and Zlata — are shown at Saturday’s Italian Fest in Ishpeming. Crossroads Christian Fellowship, located in Marquette, has been raising money to set up the family in the area. (Journal photo by Christie Mastric)

ISHPEMING — Saturday’s Italian Fest was a great way for a family who fled the war in Ukraine to spend a sunny summer day, considering what they had fled.

Crossroads Christian Fellowship, a parish of about 30 people located at 101 Oakridge Drive, has been raising money to sponsor the Bilan family, which had applied for “humanitarian parole” in the United States.

The family recently flew from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Chicago before coming to the area, where they will stay in a Marquette apartment.

“We spent a day looking around Chicago,” said Karen Liimatta, wife of Crossroads Pastor Andy Liimatta. “It was a lot of fun.”

Ukrainians looking for sponsors can connect with Americans looking for families to help, which is how the church connected with the Bilans.

Toys and other items were sold in a booth at the Italian Fest, held at the Al Quaal Recreation Area, to raise even more funds for the Bilan family — Yevheniia, the mother; Ihor, the father; and their son and daughter, Arkadii and Zlata, respectively.

The kids had fun playing with toys while Yevheniia talked about their experience coming to the U.S.

“We are happy to be here because it’s a safe place for all our children,” she said. “It’s the most important for us for now to be in a free and a safe country, and of course, to be with such kind and helpful people as the family Liimatta and other people who help us to be here, to arrive and to stay here.”

The cultural differences and traditions between Ukraine and the Marquette region will take some getting used to, she noted, but with the “kind people,” it’s easier to adjust.

There is financial help as well.

“In many ways, the community has stepped forward,” Liimatta said. “We have done many fundraisers to help cover some of the costs of moving and some of the costs involved in getting settled in.”

Yevheniia Bilan said the program, United for Ukraine, allows her family to stay in the U.S. for two years — or until the war ends.

“We hope that it will be as soon as possible,” she said. “We believe in our victory, absolutely.”

In Ukraine, the couple’s children went to kindergarten, she said, but will attend school in September, so in that way, their lives will continue as normal.

The family comes from Sumy, which is located in the northeast section of Ukraine and is 30 kilometers from the Russian border.

“The Russian troops were in our city from the first day,” she said. “They blocked and occupied all the roads in our regions.”

Unfortunately, Ukrainians were blocked from leaving — with no gasoline and no food in the supermarkets, she said.

“We were sitting in the bathroom in our shelter, but now we understand it couldn’t help us,” Yevheniia Bilan said.

Fortunately, an evacuation corridor was created for women and children, she said, so she took her kids and a “backpack with documents” and left Sumy — leaving behind her husband, their parents and their home.

Yevheniia, Arkadii and Zlata left for Romania and then the Netherlands. For four months, the three stayed in the Netherlands where her husband eventually joined the family.

It was, obviously, a difficult journey.

However, maybe the region’s natural splendors will help the Bilans in their new home.

“We like it,” Yevheniia Bilan said. “Actually, the nature is very beautiful and it’s like in our Sumy region in Ukraine. We also have warm summer and cold winter.”

The winter cold in Ukraine, though, was problematic.

“The Russians destroyed a lot of infrastructure in our regions — no heating, no water, sometimes no electricity, no internet for these days,” she said.

Of course, Ukraine is still in the family’s minds while they’re in the area.

“It doesn’t mean that we are not less Ukrainian than those that stay in Ukraine because all our thoughts and worries are about Ukraine because it is our home, our parents and our memories,” Yevheniia Bilan said.

In the meantime, the family, she noted, tries to contact and support their parents long distance.

“We hope that one day, this unfair war will be only in our memory,” Yevheniia Bilan said.

To learn more about the fellowship’s efforts, visit www.crossroadsmqt.com.