“You feel so helpless during this time. It’s encouraging to know that there is an avenue to make a difference even if it’s small in the big picture of this unimaginable situation.”
– Abby Bohl, Sukup Manufacturing
So many organizations—businesses, governments and nonprofits alike—are supporting Ukraine however they can. Sukup Manufacturing, a family-owned grain equipment manufacturer based in Iowa, found a way to leverage their business connections to do what they could in this unimaginable situation.
Sukup’s European subsidiary was able to assemble a caravan to shuttle the evacuated families of a Ukrainian partner company from Poland to Denmark. The managing director even drove one of the buses himself. The American office offered financial backing and worked logistical angles with other European business connections while the Danish branch secured food and clothing, and connected refugees with local Ukrainian-speakers.
Sukup is now raising funds to continue supporting the evacuated families, and is exploring the possibility of securing temporary work visas for refugees who make their way to Iowa.
While larger companies like Apple, Toyota and Starbucks have pulled out of Russia, and a Yale Professor’s viral list of what companies have pulled out has resulted in more companies taking action, what I love about the Sukup Manufacturing example is the reminder that each of us has an opportunity to show up, to support what we believe in, regardless of our size.
Our individual actions matter.
When added together, our collective action contributes to something monumental.
Don’t wait around for “someone else” to do something. Use your power. Use your voice. Use your heart to support what you believe in.
