SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio man is on his way home with help from of a Florida-based nonprofit after becoming trapped in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
Sue Daniels said her husband was scheduled to leave on a plane home the morning of February 24. Instead, he was greeted by soldiers with machine guns at the airport as the Russian military began of a full-scale invasion of the country on the same day. Daniels panicked as her husband returned to his hotel to figure out his next plan of action.
Daniels said she called the U.S. Embassy and state department for help but was turned away. She turned to her computer and began searching online before finding the web page for Project Dynamo, a volunteer-staffed humanitarian organization.
The nonprofit was formed by combat veterans during the Kabul airport attack in August 2021 in a brave move to evacuate Americans and transfer them to safety out of the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The name Project Dynamo is in homage to evacuation efforts during Operation Dynamo in World War II.
When co-founder Matthew Herring got word of potential warfare in Ukraine, he moved members of the nonprofit to the area.
“We had folks in the country three weeks before the war started to build networks and identify what assets they could use to move people safely under different scenarios. When the bombs started dropping, we were already ready,” said Herring.
Herring said volunteers have been able to transfer about a hundred people, mainly Americans, to the border in Romania. As word began spreading on Project Dynamo’s evacuation efforts, more people started reaching out for help by filling out a request form on their website. On Tuesday, Herring said he had a backlog of a couple thousand people who had submitted a request but is determined to answer them all.
“We have to continue. You know, as long as people need help, there’s no scenario where we will be spectators to this. We’ve got to go help them,” he said.
It’s help Daniels is immensely grateful for as her husband returns home to San Antonio tonight. She had a hard time putting her thoughts into words for the organization and their efforts to help people.
“I know I’m going to cry [when he gets here]. When [my husband] got to Romania, I couldn’t even speak I was so hysterical,” she said.
"It's because of stories like {Daniels] we have to go help these people," said Herring.
Daniels added she and many of her friends have already donated to Project Dynamo in her husband's name.