Our Founding Story

“I’m taking as many medical supplies as I possibly can.

I’m packing up all of my EMT gear and I’m going to the border.”

- GDRT Director, Alexander Smirnov February 29, 2022

Our story begins 3 days after war breaks out in Ukraine. Alexander Smirnov, a life-long first responder, couldn’t sit still any longer. From his home in Medway, MA, he called his friends, packed up his gear, said goodbye to his wife and kids, and headed to the border.

Why? He knew he could help. He knew he had to help.

Within a few days of the start of the war, Global Disaster Relief Team was formed by a group of close friends. Paperwork for the formation of a non-profit was filed, $22,000 was raised for medical supplies, and Smirnov, along with Alexander Zharov and Olga Pavleyeva, set off for the Poland-Ukraine border to lend any kind of help they could. The three were joined at JFK airport by two more medics - Alexandra Sakurets from Minnesota and Iryna Amiramova from North Carolina. They had never met each other before, but together, they set off for the crisis zone. Upon arrival at the border, they quickly realized that help was needed after the refugees crossed over - and the team went to a shopping center turned refugee-transit site in Przemsyl, Poland called “Tesco”. At Tesco, the team quickly set up the GDRT Clinic, and got to work treating people and deploying the medicine at Tesco donated by good Samaritans from around the world. In those first few days, they slept in the back of the clinic and did rounds