As the 2024 election approaches, West Mt. Airy resident and lifelong social justice activist Mary Kalyna is laser-focused on her mission: getting out the vote to support Ukraine and preserve democracy in the United States.

For her, that means a win for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. "At least I know I will feel that I did everything I could possibly do to elect her, so I will have no regrets," Kalyna said, reflecting on her efforts. "Ukrainians are dying every single day to protect freedom and democracy, so the least we can do is spend every waking hour of every day to help save them."

As a result of this initiative, and many others, the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations honored Kalyna with a 2024 Social Justice Award for Community Service on Oct. 17 at the Parkway Central Library. The award aims to "honor and celebrate Philadelphians who exude exemplary civil and human rights achievements, including community activists, mental health professionals, elected officials and members of law enforcement."

A 40-year resident of West Mt. Airy, Kalyna has been a social justice activist throughout her life. She serves as a community organizer and spokesperson for the Philadelphia Ukrainian community, as well as an advocate for racial and social justice. In 2020, she founded and began coordinating the Black Lives Matter Vigil at the Unitarian Society of Germantown on Lincoln Drive.

"The Ukrainian people have lived through so much," Kalyna said. "There was the Nazi occupation, which used 2.4 million Ukrainians as slave labor, including my aunt, who is now 92, the politically engineered famine by Stalin in which millions died, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the repression of their culture and language."

Some of those challenges have been relatively recent, she noted. "When I was first in Ukraine, all newspapers and TV and signs were in Russian, not Ukrainian," she recalled. "Putin has tried to destroy everything Ukrainian, even our language."

Kalyna's activism extends beyond local initiatives. In 2013, she co-founded "Euromaidan Philadelphia; Human Rights in Ukraine" to support the movement for justice and democracy in Ukraine. Currently, she serves as the Pennsylvania coordinator for "Stop Trump, Save Ukraine," a grassroots initiative promoting civic engagement among Ukrainian Americans in the upcoming election.

Her connection to Ukraine remains deeply personal. "I have 10 first cousins who still live in Ukraine," Kalyna explained, "as well as an aunt, nieces and nephews. Most of my family lives in the western part of the country." She has visited Ukraine numerous times since 2005, witnessing firsthand the challenges faced by its people.

"I even have friends who were born in the U.S. but who moved to Ukraine with their families after it became a democracy because they wanted to reconnect with their culture and traditional way of life," Kalyna added.

Born in upstate New York, Kalyna's family history is marked by the struggles that have shaped Ukraine. Both of her parents were put in Nazi slave labor camps as teenagers, where they remained for five years. In 1947, her father's parents were sent to Siberian labor camps, where her grandmother — and perhaps millions of others — perished of disease, starvation and brutal treatment. "This happened to a lot of families," she explained. "After World War II my parents became 'Displaced Persons' and eventually found their way to the U.S."

Her activism began early. She organized her high school's first Earth Day and later participated in anti-Vietnam War and women's rights movements at Cornell University, where she graduated cum laude with a psychology degree. She also holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

After moving to Philadelphia in 1976, Kalyna worked as a social worker, observing the impacts of racism, sexism and poverty on women and children. She later advocated for mothers who had lost custody to foster care and for changes to prevent unjust child removals.

Throughout her career, Kalyna has worn many hats, including working in market research. However, she has now set aside her professional pursuits to devote herself to full-time activism. While she doesn't like the title of "spokeswoman," she has been quoted extensively in major news media across the Delaware Valley regarding the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Kalyna, who supports Harris for president, said she's been surprised by how many of her fellow Ukrainian Americans are supporting former President Donald Trump.

"My American friends can't believe it," she said, "but there are many Ukrainians who are still voting for Trump, despite his recent comment that Putin should do 'whatever the hell he wants to do in Ukraine.'"

She attributes this to various factors, including a "reflexive aversion among many Ukrainians of anything that has any whiff of left-leaning tendencies, given their experiences in the Soviet world."

However, Kalyna also notes a shift in some traditionally conservative circles. "I hear from a significant number of lifelong Republicans who will be voting the Democratic ticket this time," she said. "An 82-year-old Ukrainian lady active in GOP politics told me she's lost half of her friends over this."

"We plan to have some public events between now and election day," she continued. "We're trying to educate, engage and encourage Ukrainian Americans to register and vote."

Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com