Conversations with Val Chmerkovskiy (Part Two)

was out there filming The World of Dance. He was on the on the judging panel, was one of the judges, and and uh, you know, I kept checking in because here the news was reporting there were people, you know, they're they're mobilizing an army around the border and hundred nine Russian soldiers around the border, and and like it was boiling, the pot was boiling. And and you know the problem now is we're either a so distracted, uh be maybe lost overwhelmed and see potentially lost a little

faith in the in the news. And so you know, it's kind of like the boy who Cried Wolf. I'm not sure, you know, I couldn't tell that there just exaggerating for the sake of another headline. This was like really happening. So I try to keep calm until, you know, until the situation. Yeah, because at this point, right like the U S News you're saying, was reporting that this is all going down in Ukraine. But when you're talking to Max, he's like, everything's fine over here. Yeah, yeah,

he was saying that. He was saying that, you know, the people are optimistic, and they're just saying that. Listen, it's you know there, they're on the east side of the country, northeast, and you know, it's there's no way and it's not gonna you know, it's older or whatever. It's just kind of posturing, if you will. And you know, a hundred ninety thousand soldiers around the borders, not that

it doesn't sound like posturing, but they were optimistic. And I think again it's Ukrainians, you know, two thousand and fourteen, just to get back to little history, Russia came in and took an entire Crimean peninsula which was part of Ukraine, just took it, just took it. You know, it's like America going in and just taking Montreal and Quebec. The entire thing, you know, from Canada and if you could imagine Ukraine in two thousand fourteen, we're just not you know,

militarily equipped to defend itself. And it was such a shock because it was unprovoked and it was just like the military just rolled in and took the land and claimed it as theirs. I mean, it's my bothering. The point is that at that point the country was like, listen, that's that's a problem, and we need to you know, we need we need to up our military game because

you know, no one's gonna come and rescue us. So from two thousand and fourteen country and it's people have really you know, started training, they started preparing, and mentally they were ready to like do this, you know, and I think this was, yes, an unprovoked invasion and completely more than they ever thought it was going to become. But they, you know, the way my brother kind of put it as like a lot of these guys they were they were ready. They were like, Okay, let's do this.

You know, it's like when you get bullied in school every day for you know that after one after the day after day after day, he takes this and then he takes you this, and he takes a lunch money and takes a lunch, and then at some point he just you know, picks you up and and it's ready to fight. You know. At some point you're just like, you know what, let's I've been waiting for this. Let's let's just do this, so that let's just do this, you know. And so I think a lot of a

lot of the country felt like that. And then but obviously, you know, it creates a lot of havoc and uncertainty. And anyway back to my brother, the point is that he was on a production and they were telling him that, you know, don't worry, it's gonna be fine. And and literally I spoke to him on Wednesday and he was like, bro, I'm like, dude, are you watching the news. It's like crazy, right, And he's like, I'm fine, I don't worry about it.

That's in America. They're reporting this in America. Don't don't trip. I'm good. And then I went to live. I'm like cool, you know, I take his word like cool. Yeah, I'm

like cool. And then like literally at four in the morning and calls me, because you know, the time difference, I think it was like, yeah, four in the morning and on a Thursday, and I was February four when they started in waiting and the rock kids started falling, you know, and people started scrambling and it became really tense, and he called me and I've never seen my brother really be that. That shook, like, you know, my my brothers is a tough dude. And he was like he

had tears in his eyes. I mean, he was really scared. And I know, the way I described this emotion was like it was it was fear because he was like, you know, he just wanted to get home. It was regret because he was like I and then I I messed up. You know, he used a different word, but um, you know I really really messed up, Like I should have I should have left, I should have left a little sooner. I don't know what to do. And then it was like so fear, regret, and then it was sadness.

You know, he was just sad because as he was trying and you know, kind of calling me. And then we started scrambling for resources to get him out because by that time, the US embassy and consulate were empty, right, so by that time we've already extracted all the American

citizens for the most part, government officials. So it's not like he could go to the U. S. Embassy and show his passport and be like protecting, because that's what happens around the world, So cherish your American passport, everybody

that's not American citizen. Um, we started scrambling to kind of get him out, and as that, you know, it's happening, the reality that all of his friends don't have that same luxury, you know, the people that now he built a relationship with, and he's looking at his manager out there, he's looking at his you know, post buddy, and you know they are he sees fear in their lives, in their eyes, like where they gonna do with their family, and and now, you know, for the right reasons, he

stops being the concerned the priority of production, even though they you know, they helped them out. Obviously they did their best, but like I said, all the structure collapses immediately, and you just it becomes chaotic survival. You know, you're just thinking about your loved ones and your immediate kind of safety. So yeah, so he uh, you know, I'm not going to get into how we were able to

get him into more or less safety. But he you know, he was he was at the hotel um kind of in the center, but you know, away from a lot of the the real big fighting. Uh still sirens still, you know, bomb shelter definitely, you know, bombs being dropped. But like I said, at least and it was crazy

you faced on me. Across the street was this police department and there was literally just lines and lines and lines all day long around the block of civilian civilians just coming up and picking up arms, regular people just you know, just ready to fight, just ready to fight. So obviously Max is in Poland now he's kind of helping with like sheltering and helping people that are coming from Ukraine like find a spot, right, yes, so he

kind of like that. That's the thing is like there's a lot of people that want to help, and there's like where do you start? Where do you begin? Like how do I do this? Just donate to the Red Red Cross or like where is that going to go? And I was gonna, you know, um, but in real time he was literally taking his own funds and like putting people up like here comes you know, if you if you get to the border, like I'll, I'll take care of the housing for a month so you could

get your bearings, and like he was doing that. You know, one family at a time, one person at a time. Um, you do what you can, you know. And for us, obviously, the dance community has a lot of our friends and a lot of our friendships, and so it is heavily Ukrainian dancers that we kind of gravitated to helping in that instance, uh, get out of the country and as far as you know, some some accommodations you know, help them, help them, helping them out logistically, but also a little

bit financially. But yeah, now he's in Ukraine doing that and um, making sure. So in the meantime in America, My my father, you know, he grew up in that country way more than than I did. You know, he grew up in the Ukraine. He was born there, and he was just angry, restless and really just angry. He was angry that this is just happening. And he didn't want to just donate some of his money so it's not he like, really he's about that life. So he was like, well, you gotta do this for me, you

gotta you know, think of a name. Uh, let's you know, help me set up an account. I'm gonna need you to you know, promote it and then I'll take care of everything else. I'm like, Dad, what are you doing? Like he wants to start from scratch. He wants to create his own thing, not piggyback off somebody else that's starting some um like aid Foundation for Ukraine. He's yeah, he's he want I want to start a humanitarian and don't want to start a charity. And we're gonna do

this and this is what I want to do. And I'm like that, Like, we have a business to run. There's a lot of ways we can help that doesn't entail us starting you know, an entire infrastructure of support, Like you have no resources of how to ship things out. We were not in the import export game, Like we don't know this stuff. Uh. And he didn't want to hear it. And it's crazy, like his relentless list is wild. And he was like, and this was eighteen days ago literally, uh.

And we started Verona. I came up with that name because that's the address of where he grew up in the Ukraine and where then my brother was born. And I was born uh and UH it's a Ukrainian humanitarian aid and it's basically and now we're officially recognized the nonprofit organization. And basically we we started with an Amazon registry because you know, obviously we have reached beyond the tri state area of Jersey, New York, Connecticut. UH, and we wanted our fans to kind of help UM start

to go fund me and and and collect money. It felt also kind of a little bit not too much, but like like what are we gonna do with this money? You know, we don't we don't want to touch this money. We want to do something tangible, right, And so UM we started with this Amazon registry and he approached the mayor of Fortly, New Jersey UM for a warehouse. He

got this warehouse. Then he got you know, the mayor of Sea Caucus and the mayor of Vege Water and then ultimately just started right and so literally we had a conversation on Thursday. On Friday, we started an Instagram account. On Saturday, he got the warehouse, and on Sunday already we we we posted on Saturday. On Sunday, the Amazon trucks started rolling in, the volunteers started showing up and

by Monday they were already hundreds of people volunteering. We had already day three, we had we had five Amazon full Amazon trucks of of aid, of like humanitarian aid coming in like it is wild. And if you go at Barano with seven on Instagram, like you know, we're

documenting everything, the show and everything. Obviously, transparency is key because I want people to see because it's spearheaded by my father and it's supported by my brother and I. But ultimately grew into a community, you know, volunteers that have resources beyond just like money. You know a lot of folks you don't have money, they and they have

full time jobs and no one's getting paid for me. UM. But we have a young woman that is an accountant by profession that came here and started helping out with the counting and making sure all the boxes are labeled. We have another and in the meantime, you got the warehouse. He got UM trucks that can carry this to to a cargo plane. He figured out he found a cargo plane that could fly it out to Ukraine. UM on

the Ukrainian side. Uh, my brother helped coordinate people to receive this, say right, because it's important that, like you know, we were excited and we're helping where you know, where is it going and is it getting there. We were able to find people that are just as you know, coordinated as us, I guess on our end to also have a warehouse and are able to receive this stuff. And actually three days our first shipment showed up. It

was through air. It was afraid Um that arrived and already unloaded, and and we have stickers on every box, we have descriptions like it turned into a full scale like operation tomorrow. Just to kind of give you some perspective, We've we've packaged over two hundred and ten thousand pounds literally last week. You were like, so that's a big jump over two hundred thousand pounds. We've shipped out a

hundred and sixty thousand. I'd say about sixty thousand went by air and a hundred thousand is going by by ship. That's gonna take like two to three weeks. It's not immediate kind of help, but like medical supplies and you know, immediate like civilian soldier needs, like you know, people like I said, it's not a video game, like this guy's in the trenches, freezing their bottle. You know, did they get wet in the snow And now they're their thermals

are wet. They're getting the you know flu like they're getting sick. They're getting you know, so like cats, thermal's uh, flashlights, battery tacks, you know. Uh so so yeah, I mean it just again, it became so much more than we ever imagined. And now we have two warehouses where you know, companies are donating their pallets. Paletts are these kind of wooden things that you you stagg the boxes on that you've didn't wrap up and uh send overseas or put

on you know, put load up in the container. And you know tomorrow we and and and this has kind of now picked up steam and gotten some eyebols, you know from not just media but also some government officials. You know, I want to give a huge shout out to Mark Suckledge, the mayor of four Lead, because he's here packing things every day. The fire department, the police department, volunteering in their free time. And uh and uh it's um you know, now the governor, we have the Governor's

attention of New Jersey. We have the senator, Senator Booker's attention. Uh and so yeah, you know, they can alleviate a lot of the costs from you know, because now back to the cost. You know, the volunteers are helping with everything, but then actually getting the you know, getting it on the boat or getting it on the plane, ideally on a plane uh two to get there faster is it

costs a lot of money. And that money is you know, that's why we started go funding page, and of those of money that that is collected through that fund is going to pay for all of this incredible donation, uh to to get to the folks in Ukraine. So listen, I'm not Mila Kunians or Ashton Ashton Kutcher. You know, I can't raise thirty million in three weeks. But you're doing pretty I'm good. I would say we're doing our best.

And uh, you know it's kind of we're you know, the Ukrainian people in Ukraine and and and just beyond Ukraine kind of where the world is mobilized and against uh an evil situation in many different ways. Yeah. Well, I think that for those of you listening that have been feeling a certain way towards this and want to help and haven't had uh, you know, maybe you don't have the information to know what to do or where to go or what's reliable and legit. Um, go to

VAL's Instagram and go to their page. How do you say, because I want to budget pan Nova? What what? Well? In Russian it's you, that's the thing in Russian, And now I gotta say, you know, um in in the way we would say it would be but right, but yeah, but you know, we don't roll our rs in English, so it's you know, it's been pronounced Baranova, Baronova, you know, so, but I don't know what seven and yeah, okay, we'll

check it out. If you guys want to help out, please we encourage you too, and vow thank you so much for coming on. I obviously love speaking with you. But this is so important and it's so relative to what's going on right now obviously, so I'm very glad that we could have somebody who's educated, who has a personal connection to it and that's doing the work and really making a big impact come on the podcast and talk about it. Thank you, Thank you so much. Thank

you for showing the interest. You know, it starts with that, and then you know, kind of blossoms into more than that. But yeah, I just want to encourage young people to understand that this isn't just about Ukraine. This is just it's about your future, you know, collectively. Uh. And if we don't do something about this particular situation here, that we're setting a precedent for it too being done elsewhere as well. And I just don't want that type of

future for myself. I want that type of future for my kids. Uh. And uh yeah, when whenever you hear geopolitics, it's not you know, it's not that simple, and it's I promise you it's you know, in some regard. Yes, that is a there's a fancy words for you know, there are many different complex topics. I promised you this

is very simple. It's very simple. People are dying, you know, like hospitals are being bombed, and kids are left fatherless and motherless and and sometimes you know, mostly and most of the time homeless. So um, you know, we could we could unpack all of those complex conversations afterwards. Uh. And and this is not about politics, right, I wanted this conversation to clearly be not about politics and more about humanity, you know. So yeah, and I want to

say thank you. I want to say thank you too. Like I said, all the people that rally behind the cause that have nothing to do with train or Russia or Eastern Europe or any of this, you know, it's it's really motivating for me. Like I'm gonna say, it's like I've always been kind of leaning towards helping people in need. But man, after this, the way people rallied for for something, you know, the way people responded to

me needing something. Man, I will ride for people all day, even if I don't really mess with that topic matter, I would show up. There's a march, I will show up. And in general, just quick, you know, quick two cents about this country, like this is a great example for

the reality that can exist here. If we're not more empathetic to each other, if we're not more patient with one another, if we stop, you know, looking at each other as humans and continue to just see each other through the lens of the internet, and how we're portrayed by people that have nothing to do with us, you need to get out. We need to see each other, and we need to connect with one another, and we

need to even if we disagree with each other. We need to respect one another and support one another because you know, push comes to shove and then it's it becomes it spirals out really quickly. So you know, let's support each other's protests and civil discourses and the ability to stand up for what we believe is right. And even if you you know, are not impacted by that cause, like you know, just show up to that protest and just just be there, Just be there, make people feel

like you're they're being hurt, you know, because that's really important. Yeah, for sure, thank you, thank you, thank you for coming on