Brandon Chrostowski has learned that helping in Ukraine doesn't always mean arriving with a grand plan. Sometimes it means listening to what people need, figuring out who can provide it and getting it there.

Chrostowski cleaned fish and made cookie and pizza dough on his last trip to Ukraine.On Oct. 5, the EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute owner, humanitarian, and philanthropist will return to Ukraine, joining an ambulance convoy in Prague that will make its way across the border to Lviv. This trip will make Chrostowski’s fifth humanitarian mission connected to Ukraine since he first traveled to Poland, near the Ukrainian border, in 2022 with World Central Kitchen.

Chrostowski will leave the convoy after arrival and spend the rest of his trip doing what he's done on previous visits: cooking with local chefs, visiting an orphanage he has supported over the years, and seeking out people and places that need a little extra help.

This trip, he's also working toward a $25,000 fundraising goal through “Drive for Ukraine: Fill the Ambulance, Fuel the Mission,” which centers on the Wednesday, Sept. 30 event at EDWINS.

The response has already been strong. Chrostowski has raised $11,000 in contributions and sold 85 tickets to the EDWINS dinner for another $8,500, bringing the total to $19,500 with only a few weeks to go before the trip.

“It's just going back to do one thing, two things, three things, raise some money,” Chrostowski says. “Like I said, we got about 11,000 raised so far.”

EDWINS will host Drive for Ukraine: Fill the Ambulance, Fuel the Mission fundraiser on September 30.The ambulance portion of the trip is being organized by Ukraine Focus, a national organization based in Washington, D.C., that Chrostowski says is undertaking its 19th convoy. The United Ukrainian Organizations of Ohio (UUOhio) invited him to join the effort, continuing a relationship that dates back to his first Ukraine fundraiser about five years ago.

UUOhio has been around for more than 90 years, working to promote Ukrainian culture and connect it with business and community life.

Chrostowski will meet the convoy in Prague on the morning of Oct. 5, and they will then travel together into Ukraine with the ambulances eventually reaching Lviv.

After a Thursday night dinner with the group, Chrostowski will split off for the more personal portion of his mission.

“These guys organize a heck of a trip in terms of these ambulances and sourcing them and [handling] all the money raised and so on,” he explains. “I'll work with one or two chefs there locally. We'll cook together, we'll do dinner, raise some awareness, have some fun.”

Cooking has become one of the ways Chrostowski connects with people during his humanitarian travels. Once in Ukraine, he'll return to an orphanage where he has cooked with the children before. He will also visit an amputee center that he says doesn't receive the same level of funding or visibility as some of the larger facilities.

“There's some that aren't so well-funded and aren't as visible,” he says of the centers. “And those are the ones I'm going to head to this time. Because they probably need the support the most.”

The needs Chrostowski encounters aren't always the ones that make the biggest headlines. Recently, for example, a Cleveland-area contact who ships medical supplies to Ukraine asked what was needed. Chrostowski connected the supplier with a children's hospital that had a list of needed supplies that included standard thermometers, adult blood-pressure monitors, infant pulse oximeters, IV catheters, size 25 medical gloves and disposable tongue depressors.

EDWINS culinary students.Chrostowski says Taras Mahali, the U.S. procurement coordinator for Aid to Ukraine with the Cleveland Maidan Association, plans to include some of those supplies in an upcoming shipment to the hospital.

It's the kind of connection Chrostowski says happens repeatedly when people are willing to work together without worrying about who gets credit.

“The whole idea of this Ukraine thing is just continuing to be invisible—working together without ego and getting who needs what where they need it as soon as possible,” he says.

That same spirit is coming together around the Sept. 30 fundraiser at EDWINS. The evening will include traditional Ukrainian food and music, with local businesses and individuals pitching in to help make the event—and the larger mission—possible.

Foie Gras, Brioche, Cranberries, and Pomegranate Gastrique paired with Sauternes-Barsac, Château Coutet, Premier Cru Classé, Graves, France, 2007“A big help has been people donating time or product,” Chrostowski says. “There is this traditional Ukrainian band called Mellow Band that will play here at a fundraiser for next to nothing!” He says Sunflower Gourmet had offered to provide pierogi.

Contributions to the mission don't necessarily have to be money. For example, on a previous trip, Chrostowski was asked to bring seeds to a village. He carried 30 pounds of seeds into Ukraine—enough, he says, to help provide food for a village through the summer.

“They grew tomato, cucumber, squash, zucchini, so sometimes people have things they want to get there that I can take,” he says. “And sometimes they just want to connect with free goods or services. It all leads to a bottom line.”

Chrostowski says that willingness to pitch in is one of the most touching parts of his mission work. Although he has traveled to Ukraine and Poland, and performed humanitarian work in Africa, he says the cooperation he's encountered around this effort always stands out.

The Mellow Band, a traditional Ukrainian Band from Parma, will play Drive for Ukraine: Fill the Ambulance on Sept. 30.“I've done a lot of work, and I've never seen this kind of collective collaboration that actually works smoothly and efficiently,” he says.

The Fill the Ambulance fundraiser gives Clevelanders another way to become part of that effort. Tickets and contributions are being collected through the event's online registration. The proceeds support the ambulance mission and the work Chrostowski will undertake once he reaches Ukraine.

He notes that one donation can help put an ambulance on the road. A box of medical supplies can fill a gap at a children's hospital. A bag of seeds can help feed a village. And a meal prepared with a local chef can create another connection.

“You never know what person it touches and what they can offer,” Chrostowski says. “Whether it's money, whether it's medical supplies that we can schlep over. I'll carry in one bag at a time.”

For now, Chrostowski says he is focused on getting the ambulance filled, reaching that $25,000 goal and preparing for another trip that will take him from a convoy in Prague to people and places across Ukraine.

“It's really cool that everyone’s pulling it together,” he says.