Serhii Shelep, who was born and raised in Ukraine, moved to the United States 10 years ago. Many of his relatives and friends still live there, including his grandmother, his parents, an aunt and an uncle.
Shelep wanted to do something to help the people of his homeland who are suffering because of the war with Russia so he and Eli Reznik, his business partner in CarNeed, a Northbrook used car dealership, donated a 2010 Honda Ridgeline car to the Ukrainian army at the beginning of the year.
“Eli is an immigrant from Israel but he has Ukrainian roots as well. His grandma was born in Ukraine,” Shelep said. “So we’ve tried to offer support as much as we can since the war started back in 2022.”
That includes doing fundraising for Ukraine, including for the cost of the car being donated and shipped.
“We asked our friends and some of our customers to be a part of it,” Shelep said. “We raised about $5,000 from that. Another $4,000, we covered by ourselves. That included the reconditioning of the vehicle and shipping it to Ukraine via transport.”
The vehicle was delivered to a town in Poland. “It took four-to-six weeks to get there,” Shelep said. “After that, we had it delivered to the west part of Ukraine.” From there, Shelep’s father made sure that it was delivered to the area in Ukraine where it is needed.
Shelep said that the car will be used to transport necessities to the army. “We’re installing mud tires in Ukraine now on the vehicle because otherwise you can’t drive in certain territories,” because the roads have been destroyed.
So far, fighting hasn’t touched Shelep’s hometown of Ternopil. “My native town serves as kind of a shelter for people that forcefully have to leave their places,” Shelep said. “They give assistance to people from the east part of Ukraine.”
Shelep and Reznik weren’t expecting to receive any praise for the donation so they were both surprised when they received a poster hand-signed by General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s Commander in Chief of its Armed Forces.
“The document is a huge honor for us to receive,” Shelep said.
More Top Picks Watches
The two business partners have owned CarNeed at 3160 Commercial Avenue in Northbrook since August 2020. “We deal in high-quality used vehicles. We ship around 70 % nationwide,” Shelep said.
They are hoping to be able to donate another car to the Ukrainian army, and plan to start fundraising again to make that possible, in addition to donating other needed items, such as first aid supplies.
“It could be anything,” Shelep explained. “People are definitely in need of not only cars but they are in need of basic stuff. While we ship the car, we can pack it with necessities.”
For more information, visit carneed.com.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.