'Peace for Ukraine' banners in Springfield designed to create awareness of conflict
Several blue-and-yellow "Peace for Ukraine" banners will be going up around the downtown Springfield area early this week.
The banners include the sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, which has been embroiled in a nearly two-month war with Russia.
The U.N. High Commission for Human Rights has reported 4,335 civilians killed or wounded in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24. The conflict has caused more than 4 million Ukrainians to flee their homes.
Springfield Rotary Clubs donated just over $1,900 for the banners, with the city of Springfield matching that amount, according to Rotarian Barbara Malany.
Other businesses that have contributed include the Illinois State Museum, the Illinois Education Association and Myers Commercial Real Estate.
Ace Sign Co., Malany said, is manufacturing and installing the banners with Downtown Springfield, Inc. serving as the project manager.
The banners are expected to be up through the end of July.
Malany said the Rotary International Disaster Response Fund has raised $8.8 million to provide grants to the Rotary clubs in the countries bordering Ukraine.
In addition to the banners, Illinois Realtors lit Bicentennial Plaza downtown with blue and yellow lights at the onset of the conflict in support of Ukraine, Malany pointed out.
Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder has said the city is considering planting sunflowers around the Y Block.
The city has hosted multiple groups from Ukraine through the years. One that was part of the U.S.–Ukraine Foundation Open World Delegation in 2018 included Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov, who was kidnapped and held by Russian soldiers for six days last month.
Fedorov was recognized by Pope Francis during the Easter Vigil at St. Peter's Square Saturday evening. Fedorov was in attendance.
Langfelder said he is hoping the banners create a greater public awareness about the conflict.
Langfelder, who often wears a Ukrainian flag lapel along with some other city workers, was mayor when Fedorov's delegation visited.
"(The conflict) crosses on multiple levels for me personally," he said. "It reflects back on my father (former Springfield mayor Ossie Langfelder) and his days in Europe and having to flee (the invading German army in Austria in 1938) but also how welcoming we should be as a community and not tolerate oppression of any type.
"Everyone should respect peace in the world and that's what we're reflecting upon in this message."
Malany and her husband, LeGrand "Lee" Malany, hosted Fedorov in their home during his visit here. Fedorov wasn't mayor at the time but was elected in 2020.
Barbara Malany said she is personally following online five people through the conflict, including Fedorov.
"A couple of them have said, 'We must win (this war), and we so appreciate your support.' They're heartened by the fact that we are supporting them visually as well as financially," she said.
One of the people Malany is following in Ukraine is a physicist who drives along escape routes picking up people who are walking in conflict areas and driving them to safer areas in the west of the country
"Every day he has a selfie of a bunch of fellow physicists and engineers and him who have loaded up cats and dogs and families and kids," Malany said. "Every day his closing remark is, 'Let's win.'"
Related: Ukrainian mayor allegedly kidnapped by Russian forces visited Springfield in 2018
Another teenager from Poland who Rotary hosted here as an exchange student, Malany said, has helped start a project that houses 50 to 60 Ukrainian families in homes or hotels. The group, Malany added, has also driven supplies to the Polish border with Ukraine.
"I'm so proud of these young people, but I worry about them, too," Malany said.
"I think it's important for everybody to understand why we need to do this (as a show of support)," Lee Malany added. "Supporting the Ukrainians is in a sense supporting the idea of whether we're going to have a nice world to live in or whether we're going to fall back into conflicts with powerbrokers and a world that's made of warlords rather than democratic principles and the rule of law.
"If Ukraine loses, there'll be no Ukraine. If Ukraine wins, there will be a redevelopment of Russia and some of these other countries."
Langfelder was on a U.S. Conference of Mayors webinar last week that included six mayors from Ukrainian cities.
The conference adopted an emergency resolution in support of the Ukrainian people and democratic values.
"It's just shocking how this war has turned (people's) lives upside down," Langfelder said. "That's the scary part. It should be a time of awakening for all of us, about what's happening and where does it stop."
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: 'Peace for Ukraine' banners will start flying in downtown Springfield
