From left, Irena Tkachenko, Anna Kisel and Alina Lyman listen to Matvey Kisel talk Monday about his experiences in school in America since the three families moved to Cranberry Township after fleeing war-torn Ukraine. The families were accepted in the federal Uniting for Ukraine program. Two families arrived in June and one in August. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

Three young Ukrainian families who escaped their war-torn hometown of Kharkov think the American holiday of Thanksgiving is a good time to say they cannot find the words to express their appreciation for the people in Butler County who donated money, clothing, food, gift certificates, toys and anything else to assist them when they arrived, penniless, in Cranberry Township with one suitcase per family.

“They want to say ‘Thank you very much,’ all people from Butler County, for being very kind and very helpful in their first months after they come,” the families said through the English skills of Lyudmyla Martin. “It is very difficult to be in a different country and feel love and warmth and comfort.”

Martin is a Ukraine native whose son and daughter-in-law, Maks and Yana Yarmatsevych, retrieved the families when they landed in New York City and provided accommodations for two families in their Cranberry Township home when they arrived in June.

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