“The Acadiana Symphony Orchestra on Friday launched an online fundraising initiative to support three of its musicians who are originally from Ukraine and whose families live in the regions targeted by the Russian invasion,” writes Davide Mamone in Friday’s (3/4) Times-Picayune (New Orleans). “All proceeds received will be directly given to the Ukrainian National House, a nonprofit organization located on the border of Ukraine, and to the Lviv Volunteer Kitchen, an on-the-ground hub that helps to distribute meals and other humanitarian aid to those still in Ukraine … as well as those refugees who have fled. ‘We felt it imperative to actively participate in a relief effort that focuses on the human element of this crisis—human beings that happen to be extensions of our ASO family,’ said Dana Baker, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra’s executive director…. The symphony’s conductor, [Mariusz] Smolij, is familiar with the two organizations chosen for the fundraising initiative and said he has vetted them extensively…. [Associate Concertmaster] Marta Turianksa … said … ‘Sometimes I try to call my mom [in Western Ukraine], and she texts me back saying she can’t respond because there is an air alert and they have to go to the shelter.’ ”
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