Amarillo considers sister city relationship with Ukrainian City

During the Tuesday Amarillo City Council meeting, Glenda Moore, executive director and founder of Kind House Ukraine Bakery, spoke to the council about considering a proposal to enter a sister city relationship with the city of Dnipro, Ukraine.

Becoming a sister city with Dnipro would be an agreement with the leadership of both cities to develop economic, cultural and technical exchanges with its corresponding international city, in an effort to promote cultural understanding and possibly stimulate economic development. This relationship's main purpose for Amarillo is an arts and cultural exchange.

Starting in 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower envisioned the sister city program as citizen diplomacy to bring communities closer together for cultural understanding.

The city of Dnipro is located in the Eastern part of Ukraine, about 243 miles southeast of Ukraine's Capital, Kyiv.

“What it means is that we would send art to them, and they would send art to us," Moore said. “We would work in a business sector. The council would be completely in control of the items of how we would coordinate with our sister city's friendship with Ukraine. So, this does not tie us financially to them.”

Moore stated that Dnipro is located in a buffer zone of Ukraine that her organization has supported with housewarming goods, medical supplies, baked goods and other support from her non-profit.

“We partnered with Tetyana Vasylyeva, who has been instrumental in getting medical supplies that have been donated from BSA, Northwest, Lubbock and other areas,” Moore said. “We also purchased some items to be able to send to Dnipro and Kyiv, Ukraine. As we started working through that partnership, the mayor of Dnipro reached out to us and asked if would we consider entering a cultural friendship.”

Moore said she was sent an official letter informing Mayor Ginger Nelson about the proposed sister city invitation.

“We are very excited to be able to do a cultural exchange because both cities have great art and artists to share with each other,” Moore said.

She expects art to be exchanged with West Texas A&M and Amarillo College to start happening soon, which she feels helps build a bridge between the two cities and cultures.

Moore said that her organization started raising funds to help people in Ukraine in 2014 and was originally helping in the city of Donbas. In February of this year, her organization had to change focus to the city of Dnipro, due to the presence of Russian troops in Donbas. A big part of her organization is to help get medical supplies to hospitals in the region.

“Our mission is to give humanitarian aid to people in the warzones of Ukraine,” Moore said. "The friendship between us and Ukraine has been years in the making."

Vasylyeva, a pediatrician and a Texas Tech University professor from Eastern Ukraine, spoke about the possible partnership with the city of Dnipro. She has been a resident of Amarillo since 2009.

“The war in Ukraine has really broken my heart,” Vasylyeva said. “The people from there that I grew up with are really in a dire situation, losing their houses and much worse. I deeply appreciate Kind House Bakery for being in this journey with us. We believe that it will be good for everybody if Dnipro and Amarillo become sister cities. We have so much in common as people.”

During the council session, Nelson said that an opportunity like this with a sister city in Ukraine would help to show the world the heart of the High Plains.

“In Amarillo and in the Panhandle are where people like to take care of other people,” Nelson said. “I think having a friendship with Dnipro, Ukraine, would be expressing that culture to them.”

Nelson spoke about the first steps if the council agrees to enter into a sister city agreement with Dnipro. She said that the city would then join the sister city’s international group, as well as have more conversations with the mayor of Dnipro on what exchanges can be made between the cities.

“Part of the culture of Amarillo is the people, and what we value the most is taking care of people,” Nelson said. “We do that well here, so why wouldn’t Amarillo be interested in expanding outside of our boundaries to take care of people outside the city limits of Amarillo.”

Nelson said that this would not be Amarillo taking care of its sister city financially, but residents are welcome to donate to the nonprofit involved if they wished to.

“It is mainly about sharing concerns, art, ideas and hope among our two cities,” Nelson said. “I think having friends outside the warzone would create a lot of hope for the people of Ukraine. It fits right into our culture in Amarillo with people who value taking care of others.”

The Kind House Ukraine Bakery will be opening at its new location in November at 4715 S. Western. In the meantime, you can visit them at 2100 Southwest 60th on Wednesday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Go to https://kindhousebakery.org/ if you would like to find or more or to make a request for a bakery item.