Las Vegas woman reflects on helping refugees one year after invasion of Ukraine

Good evening. Today marked one year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Thanks for joining us at 11. I'm Denise Feldes. And I'm Brian Loftis. During the last 12 months, many here in Las Vegas have jumped into help in any way they could, including one woman who flew to the Ukrainian border to help refugees. Sasha Loftis spoke with her tonight and she joins us right now with more.

Sasha? Denise and Brian, the woman I spoke with dropped everything last year to fly to Poland and helped millions of Ukrainian refugees entering that country. She sat down with me tonight to share more on their resilience and how many have been through this past year. It's been one year since life in Ukraine came to a startling halt. Since Russia's invasion, cities have crumbled, thousands have been killed, and millions forced to escape. I wanted to go because I knew I could do something. They flew into Poland, which prompted Kathy Healy to travel there all the way from Las Vegas to help. Healy spent more than a month camping at the border as a Red Cross volunteer, feeding and clothing those who got out.

People were so desperate for just a simple piece of bread. They were desperate just to have their child stop crying. She says at the time no one had any idea the war would last this long, but she believes her work truly made a difference. The goal of a volunteer was just to give them a smile. Many of those she still keeps in touch with still haven't been able to go back to their home country. And though it's still hard to watch such sadness and pain, Healy says the people she knows will always rely on their ultimate strength. Revival makes you tough, and these people are tough.

Kathy says she still keeps in touch with two women she met in Poland last year who had just escaped Ukraine. She says while they're safely in other countries, they tell her their husbands are still in the country fighting.

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