GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — About 100 people marched through Ah-Nab-Awen Park and across the Grand River, holding Ukrainian flags high and calling for peace as Russian forces continue to invade the country.
"If you're looking at this (war) and don't think its horrible, you're on the side of the aggressor," Sofia Schippers says.
Tetiana Freund and her husband Kyle led Thursday's rally, just as her parents made their way to the Polish border, narrowly avoiding an attack on their journey.
"I'm from Kyiv, and we got bombed first," she says. "That was the hardest."
"(Her parents) didn't think people outside Ukraine cared," Kyle says. "We wanted to show them we cared."
"They were supposed to take an early train, but that train got bombed, so they got really lucky," Tetiana says.
It's a horror that Caledonia High School exchange student Yasmina Abdelrham lives every day, thousands of miles from home. She shared with the crowd that schools in her hometown are going up in flames.
"Today is the 8th day of this terrible war," she says "I check the news every hour to not see my school next. (I) wait for a text from my grandmother every hours that everything is okay."
Yasmina says she felt the support at Thursday's rally, calling it like home.
"To be honest for the last six months, I've never seen so many people from Ukraine in one place," she says.
Stories at the rally detailed accounts from the frontlines.
"(My friends) had to say goodbye to their husbands at the border, not knowing when, how, or I don't even want to say the word 'if' they'll see them again. That's extremely difficult to think about," one speaker said.
There was also a call to action to push our leaders to do more.
"Sign petitions, call your senators, donate to links, and call out elected officials on social media," Olivia Rodriguez says.
Tetiana shared a message from her friends and family in Ukraine.
"My friends say just value every second of what you have," she says. "Your children, the blue sky, the food you have and the connections you have, just be grateful."
They hope to host another rally in the near future. This was one of two events happening in Grand Rapids Thursday night, as Cornerstone University held a prayer service and discussion panel on the war in Ukraine.
RELATED:
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.