TRAUMATIC TRIP
Marin couple bring family home from Ukraine invasion
A Marin business owner and his Ukrainian wife are celebrating the safe extraction of family from Odessa, Ukraine — a journey which took them from their home country to Poland, across the world to Mexico and then to California.
Alyona and Rick Cooper own Cooper Alley Salon and Barber Lane at the Marin Country Mart in Larkspur. They say they have spent nearly two months working to bring Alyona Cooper's family to safety.
Rick Cooper said when the Ukraine invasion began, he and his wife begged her family to leave Odessa by train for Poland.
Her parents resisted for weeks. But when missiles began to hit their city, they finally
agreed to board a train to Warsaw, their daughter said.
While her parents, Olha and Oleksandr Rachynska, and sister, Svitlana, spent three weeks in a hotel in Poland, Alyona Cooper worked from Marin to get them a Canadian visa for expedition to Vancouver. She said her family volunteered every day in Warsaw, helping people at the train station, by handing out “water, maps, sandwiches, everything.”
“My wife worked very hard for two weeks,” said Rick Cooper said, describing how his pregnant wife worked tirelessly printing and email documents back and forth with the Canadian embassy and the hotel housing her family.
“We were so proud of Canada, because Canada was really trying hard to get Ukrainians
out,” he said.
The family was five days away from getting the Canadian visa when Alyona Cooper received a text from a friend who had safely made it over the Mexican border into the U.S. They found out that President Biden had
opened the border to Ukrainian refugees for a limited time.
Rick Cooper said they decided it would be easier to send her family to Mexico so they could pick them up and bring them back to Marin.
They talked the family into a 28-hour journey, flying to Amsterdam, then Mexico City and finally Tijuana.
Rick Cooper said he met his wife's parents at the border. The taxi driver refused payment, because “he just wanted to help a Ukrainian family.”
He said they expected a 36-hour wait to cross the border with at least 150 people ahead of them. But once authorities found out Alyona Cooper's mother was Ukrainian and recently had a heart attack, they were let through right away.
“That's kindness. That's just real kindness,” Rick Cooper said.
“He (the supervisor) walked us through and said, `I know you're American, I know you did a good thing, take care of your mother-in-law'.”
Rick Cooper said the compassion continued when they reached Los Angeles International Airport hours later, where they nearly missed boarding
their flight.
He said airport staff “really went out of their way to help people from Ukraine.” Once he mentioned Ukrainian refugees, they were brought to the front of processing and security lines.
“It's like a community of people that were really trying to help us get her family across the border,” Cooper said.
As her family was transported to Marin, Alyona Cooper found her own way to help other families in need. She joined the app Telegram, which helps connect refugees to transportation and shelter. After helping one Ukrainian family, she was linked to others trying to cross to safety from their country.
By the time her family arrived, she had helped seven families get across the border within six weeks.
“We have a guy who will voluntarily drive everyday people to Moldova's border,” Alyona Cooper said. “It's just trying to connect people, trying to bring the families across the border.”
The couple also worked with a San Jose initiative to collect pallets of goods to be delivered to Ukrainian
refugees. They delivered 220 pallets in two weeks, including 20 pallets from Marin, by driving items to San Jose as people volunteered time and money to help.
Alyona Cooper said finding these ways to help people in her country helped her get through the fear for her own family's safety.
“It's not just a Ukraine problem, it's a problem of the entire world. I hope that people see that Ukraine is really showing how to fight for their own rights,” she said.
The family has organized a GoFundMe at tinyurl.com/3n7ar7cx to get Alyona's parents on their feet. Olha and Oleksandr Rachynska brought just two bags of clothes, with a suitcase of infant clothes for the Coopers' baby. Rick Cooper said the fund has already raised more than $30,000.
Joan Dauria, a client at the Coopers' salon, said she has known Rick Cooper for about 20 years. She said to her, their story shows “there are Ukrainian refugees here in our midst, and we don't know about it. I think we should help them
as a community.”
Another client, Blair Shane, also said she contributed to the family's resettlement costs.
“So many of us want to help,” she said. “It was a no-brainer to contribute to their family's living and education expenses as they get on their feet in the U.S. Community, generosity and openness to all is what our country is built on.”
Client Nancy Maymar said she's known Rick Cooper almost 30 years.
“He's a great friend. He and Alyona are just truly down to earth good people,” she said. “I'm thrilled her family got here.”
After his wife's parents' journey, Rick Cooper said, “I would say they're traumatized.”
“Her mom gets across the border, and then just starts crying. I tell her she's in America, and the tears stop,” he said.
“They cry every day, missing their home,” Alyona Cooper said.
“They are glad to be alive but … there's so much trauma,” she said. Of her mother, she said: “Every time she tries to smile, she feels guilty.”