The following episode was recorded before the WGA sag Aftra strikes of twenty twenty three.
When the war broke out in Ukraine last year, I, like most of the world, felt completely overwhelmed and concerned for the fact that at this point in our civilization, we were so willing to start killing each other again. I was concerned about the people of Ukraine certainly, and concerned about this terror that Putin was reigning down on this country. So my organization six Degrees held a fund
raising event at a brewery in DC. It was kind of an inspirational place because it was a restaurant that was owned by Russians and had Ukrainian employees, and they felt the need to stand up for their employees and for the people of Ukraine. And so we played an impromptu show with our band, the Bacon Brothers, and it was a great day. So in today's episode, I had the chance to sit down with a father and a son.
Maxim Chimerkovsky is known for his moves on Dancing with the Stars, but more than that, he and his dad are the founders of an organization that is providing much needed aid to those most affected by the war in Ukraine and now a year later, their organization is more critical than ever. This is why we do what we do. So lean in.
I'm really glad you're here.
Well, folks, we literally have a star, an actual Dancing with the Stars star here today on the podcast. Thank you so much for being here. Maxim Chermikowsky. Welcome to the show.
I appreciate it. Thank you. I can believe you call me a star. I will take that. And I hope this is recorded.
So absolutely for I mean, this is the this is the amazing thing about you is that it's one thing. I mean, the whole idea of that of that show, right is that you bring stars on and and that you know that. But when you you you took that and turns you turns yourself. You're the You're the story there, You're the You're the draw. It's it's it's a fantastic accomplishment.
I appreciate it.
I think it's a it was unfair to the celebrities when the show came out and it became a success, it turned into Max this guy being on TV consecutively for seventeen seasons where celebrity comes in for one at a time, and I feel like it wasn't something that I was.
Reaching or striving for.
I never came to Hollywood with intention of being in Hollywood. I came because I was a dancer and there was a dance job that I was invited to do. So here we are almost what is it, twenty.
Tee? Almost twenty years later.
That's amazing. That's amazing, man. But listen, let me tell you. I'm sorry. You feel bad for the celebrities. But the celebrities can handle it is they get. Don't feel the good, don't feel too bad. You know, we all have our path to take in this business. It's a it's a tough business. It's a tough business to be an actor. It's got to be a really tough business to be
a dancer. I mean, tell me what you how did you define yourself in I mean, go, let's go back to to your childhood and to the first time you started to dance. I'm really fascinated in that journey.
I mean, it's a it's a great story, but it's not an individual story. And maybe you'll tell that towards the end of our conversation. Is that you know, I'm that guy, you know with that type of family. I have that type of upbringing. You know, it's not a stardom thing. It's not a you know, I can sound a little however, you know TV may present me, but.
You know, we grew up very normal. You know, let's call it that.
I am from Odessa, Ukraine. I was born in nineteen eighty and I was born to two very regular Soviet Union young parents and they were both nineteen.
At the time. WoT they didn't know what to do with me?
I guess I keep saying it to my parents, but mom, kids deny its. It's like, no, we had a plan, but no, they honestly, they just said they followed very simple formula. If you limit child's free time, he probably will get in less trouble. And so at four years old, I was you know, given into the what was called School of Aesthetic Education, and it was about growing up a nice.
Boy, you know, a little prince, little princess.
And as part of it was ballroom dancing. But it was at that time the first summer ballroom danced.
For like banners, like you learn manners, you learn ballroom dancing. It's kind of like exactly a little little princess and princess and white gloves and that kind of stuff. I get it. Were your parents were they artists or dancers themselves?
No, not at all, absolutely zero. As a matter of fact, it's so funny that we're having this conversation, but my mom actually had her first dance competition last night.
So well it's long story too.
Where can I see that?
Well, you know, all these years later.
So so Mike, just a quick version is that, you know, shortly after I joined this sort of overall academy, you know, and then eventually, at five years old, I went to school and you know, I believe now, what I know now is that there was you know, boys have always been in shortage and short supply, especially in ballroom dancing, because girls want to do it, boys want to do other things. So, you know, I was picked out of
a class group of us. Somebody walked in and said how about this one, dow one and that one, and they literally selected five boys and we were being in and our parents were offered, hey, why don't they join actual.
Ballroom dance school and learn ballroom dancing? Okay?
And my parents said sure, And the next thing I know, I am, you know, twenty years old, I'm in the United States. We've immigrated, I am representing US, you know, I'm a world finalist, so on and so forth. So that journey was crazy. But I never had aspirations of being a dancer. I never wanted to be a dancer. I still kind of confused why I'm been dancing for the last thirty six years. I ended up wanting to be finding a small window of passion in chemistry and biology.
However, when we immigrated.
To US, and I grew up in Brooklyn, New York since the nineties, when it was time to go to university, I had a choice to make. So I went to university for one year and realize that I have a career opportunity right here, you know, in dance, and and at that time, I was already, you know, a high rank dance professional in the world as well.
So yeah, that's my question is that if you were you know, if you're an actor, I guess you're shooting for an oscar or something like that. I'm still shooting, right, and uh, but if you're a dancer, a ballroom dancer specifically, what what is the what's the what's the thing you're shooting for? And and and can you I'm sure you do great on you know, uh dance with the stars, But is there a way to make a living as a ballroom dancer.
I mean, it's just.
Leading me into a perfect sort of path of my life. But yeah, that was a reality first of all, where I'm a circuit, a ballroom dance circuit. Uh, it's the same as tennis or figure skating, if you will, minus the Olympics and high pay checks. But I have we were saying this a long time when dancing the start just started, and all these red carpets and in these interviews and who are you where are you from?
We were laughing.
I was signing autographs in Germany and Asia, you know, Europe and Asia, where it's been popular all all these years since we were seventeen, you know, so we you know, we have a raking system. I was in seventy two countries participating of you know, in the World Ballroom Circuit if you will, Federation in the nineties when I immigrated with my family in ninety four, and at that time, the United States was very slow and small, very very
small participant in the world ballroom dancing. They had virtually no children dancing, so there would be no adults come now, and with my wave of immigration, specifically me, I opened my first dance studio when I was seventeen, so just a few years later, we spent the late nineties building the ballroom community here in the United States consisting of us,
the kids, and the youth coming up. And so it's very interesting because when Dancing with the Stars came to us again, ballroom was an unknown, sort of underground circuit.
I didn't want to do the show.
I was what you said, you know, I was sort of like blinds on and I was going for a world championship title and at in ninety for the two thousand and five, two thousand and six, when you were when Dancing with the Stars came to us at that time, at the end of my what ended up being at the end of my career. At that time, I didn't
know that was never going to come back. But I joined Dancing with the Stars being ranked fourth in US, served first in US, and top six in the world in professional Latin American dancing.
And that's it. That's the end of my story. I've been everywhere in the world. I competed everywhere.
I mostly since then, since ninety four, I represented United States. I carried the flag. My brother is my student. He's six years younger.
How many how many siblings? How many siblings do you have?
That's it just.
Your brother and you brought what's the age difference?
Six years? He's six years younger.
He actually also, you know, continued the Schmikovsky tradition of Dancing with the Stars after he retired from his competitive career. Also between in his mid twenties, he joined Dancing with the Stars and he is actually right now currently with my wife rehearsing for the finale of ongoing season thirty one of Dancing the Stars.
Oh okay, so you're so your wife is your wife is a dancer?
My wife is a dancers. Her name is Peter Murgatroyd. She's also someone I met on Broadway and she's been Dancing with the Stars professional for the last ten plus years. My question is, my brother's wife is also Dancing with the Stars professional gym.
So it's so interesting to me that it's a that it's a family tradition, but that but the tradition now starts with you. You know. It's interesting because in my family, one the generation that I'm in the generation before mine had absolutely no actors, no musicians, no artists, and then all of a sudden, one generation down my cousins or actors, directors, my brother's a musician. Like there's like there's tons of us. And then it continued down. But it started like at
that moment. And I think that's such an interesting thing because generally, you know, in the in the world, you kind of think of a pretorships being handed down. And also a lot of people talk and I think sometimes I think this is thrown around a little bit too much where they say, well, it's in your blood. You know, it's in your blood. It's in your blood. But I mean you're a good example of No, it's in the work.
It's in the work that you put in, not in whatever you know you have given you've gotten from your parents. It's the it's the parental focus on how hard this work is going to be.
I would think it's a lot of leadership starting with your parents, you know, and it's a lot of commitment, you know, to the family.
A lot of people in.
The last some years, let's not dwell, but you know, I think that you know, family went away from being super involved with one another to kind of like, you know, here's how you should be as a child, Here's how I should be as a parent. That's you know, it's kind of like these blanketed statements, right. So my parents were were not like I don't think they were like everyone else. I think they were just very specific because they gave it their all.
And and I want to be that parent.
Uh And I feel like I wanted to say when you were saying about, you know, the generation that becomes artists and goes into the and that generation in that direction. You know, those things happen in good times, you know. And and again reason for this conversation is unfortunately very bad situation.
Uh.
And and that's the region Ukraine at that time, in the mid nineties where my parents who made a decision to take my brother and I at that time I was fourteen in QS eight to the place where there would be enough stability where they can become something else. And and and the opportunities have become for me and my brother to make a lot of money, to be successful, to provide foundation.
You know.
At one point I was the bread winner in the entire family. And that was and we were happy about that because there was a huge opportunity here, so you know, I think that it goes to show that, you know, I wouldn't.
I would.
I'm always in debt, indebted to my parents no matter what. I'm forty two now and my own family, but I will always be indebted to my parents. And I always say that my accomplishments are mostly my parents, you know, doing my son, my kids accomplishment I will take credit for, you know, because I'm giving all of mine too, to my parents.
Let me ask you a question I want to get. I'm going to get to Ukraine and the work that you're doing, which is, you know, spectacular. But I have two questions. One is you have a son. I was going to ask you and what happened? How old is your son?
He's turning six in January six.
What happens if he says to you, you know what, that I really don't want to dance? He already did. Oh okay, he already did.
We started him young, at three years old.
We gave him into our friends here in Hollywood that have a dance studio. Because number one, I will never be a coach to my children.
I am. I've been a coach to kids, will never I want to be. I want to be and I will never be the parent on the sideline like Yelly.
I will be the guy in the back watching the teacher teaching my kids because I know you know how to see that. But between dance and soccer, again, we follow.
The same formula of my parents dead.
He's in dance, soccer, karate, some you know, great school with tourists coming home.
You know.
I want him to be at the time when he's the most able to you know, kind of like taking information. Give it to him, give him all the information they can give. But I did ask him one time and said, hey, you know we're driving. I'm like, what do you What do you like? He said, Papa really don't like dancing. I'm like, let me ask a different question. I'm thinking in my head, I'm like, you a great at dance, you great a karate rated disc out of everything if you could.
He's inter rob music, pop.
I don't want to dance like I just don't like dancing.
Can I just tell you my daughter told me the same thing, and now she's doing very very well as an actress.
So and you know what I said, I said, I'm just gonna stop asking you at the moment.
You know what I'm saying, That's great.
He knows that we really.
Damnce on Saturdays, and for now I'll take it.
Good for you. But it sounds like you've got a very healthy approach to that those kinds of things, because I agree with you. I've never been the kind of parent who would sit there and scream at a kid because he just struck out, you know, I mean, I I just that's just not not my thing. By the way, speaking of which, are do you do other things athletically? I mean, are you Are you doing any plenty sports.
Or anything every sport but not obviously on a professional level, which I wish I would at this point. Paychecks are different, But no, I am. I'm in the gym almost every day. Like I'm trying to I'm trying to lead by example. Again, at four, a professional dancer, we can still get up and do an hour and a half to act, you know, live performance. I'm an anomaly, you know, at my age forty two years old. You know, I retire from competitive ballroom dancing at twenty five.
So I retired.
So that goes to show where careers are and how we are, you know, how we do this.
I'm trying to at the very least do that for as long as I can.
So the joints are good, the everything's everything's feeling okay.
Everything's real.
I like I said, my chemistry, biology is my passion in regenerative addison, in you know things that Lebron James and Tom Brady are still on. I'm the guy who's going to do that in dance, That's what I believe.
Well, I want to get to Ukraine, which is your home country. Now, you were there when the war broke out? Is that correct? This is what I've been told? Correct, Take take me through that. I mean, first off, how did you just happen to be there? And also I just I can't imagine what that must have been like.
About eleven years ago, I was deep in dancing with the star's career and here in US, and and I have not been back to Ukraine by that time for about thirteen years.
I just got an.
Offer for to be the Ukrainian Bachelor. The show was coming to your grade, and they kind of like went around the globe and they needed probably representative that's both bilingual and very sort of like you know, kind of that type of figure. I said no so many times it was crazy, and they finally said, you know what, We're going to fly out and meet with you and talk to you in person.
And that these two ladies came out a producer. The guy.
They were like, you're the guy. You can't say no. We're going to make an offer you can't refuse.
They told me. They told me different.
They said, you know, the situation currently in that part of the world is that, you know, the the twenty five women to one man is pretty relevant, and what that gives men is the you know, men are sort of like they have the opportunities, rights, whatever you want to call it, but they allow themselves certain ways with women that women allow because there's no other choice. And
you know, raise a hand, that's stuff. And so what they wanted is they wanted someone who's us but with outside perspectives, and they wanted a night in shining Armor to come and show these women that there are men that aren't like that.
And at that moment, I was like, I'm your guy.
No pressure, there's no pressure at all, no pressure at all.
I wrapped that flag and I was like, I'm in show me what my horses. So I was one hundred percent committed to an opportunity like that. The first minute of our first episode, the first you know, filming, I realized it was a horrible mistake. I mean, I made a horrible decision. This is not me and this is terrible. But I was already committed. So you know, I kept my my TV career while I was building stuff here
in US. I kept my TV career in Ukraine for the last ten years plus and in the last but then twenty fourteen and onwards, things have changed.
And I had no idea.
Why, because I was already over, not already because I was here and like the rest of us, we were too far away from that beginning conflict to give it any bit more attention than.
The rest of the world did, right, And so.
Got to I made some arrangements and it was amazing because I met some people, and you know, my career took off in Ukraine and right before the war began. Last year pole season, I was a judge on Dancing with the Stars in Ukraine and one Channel, and in January February we were filming a TV show called World of Dance when I was also a judge.
So when you're living in Ukraine full time or will you go back and forth?
I live in Malletable full time with my family, so you know, this was just post pandemic coming out of it. The opportunities were scarce and I had an incredible one, so I took it.
It was very hard because again the distances.
Are crazy, but.
But it was. It was amazing.
And in February I was just waking up to go film.
I wasn't waking up.
I would have woken up, but I was walking up at five am and my friend who's a TV personality in Ukraine as well, who's my friend from a long time ago, And it was that call. It's like, hey, you don't panic, but get up, just back your bags. And then I'm getting loose bumps as I'm saying.
This, and I'm like, what are you talking About's five am?
It's like the war has begun, but don't panic like this, Like I'm like, wait what and and and the next thing I heard there is the sirens And then I was like, this was the sheer panic.
So I spent.
You know that this was a possibility. Was it was? It was? It in on on the top of people's minds that this this could this could happen any day.
Now, absolutely, I mean the it was both. It was both. It was an.
Eerie calm and sensation that the entire country was saying, look, we are in this sort of brewing moment for the last.
Eight years, right, it's been since.
Twenty fourteen initial onslaught and then when when you know, Putin came in and grabbed Crimea and part of.
The eastern UK, eastern your career, and that was confusing.
For everybody, you know, and then after that it was a long period of back and so it never nobody knew when it was going to begin. A lot of people knew it was going to happen, but when I was coming. As a matter of fact, I was on February fourteenth for Valentine's There, I was here, I was in the US, and my wife went in tears. She was driving me to the airport on February twentieth to fly to Ukraine when already all the Russian troops were
already being accumulated. Wow, and I still but on the way to the airport, I'm like, guys, look, I need you know.
I spoke to my management in Ukraine. I was like, are you sure we.
Had the network executives, you know, second ownership, blah blah blah. Cole say, hey, anything go down, You're the first person you know to the airport, want to plan you out. We all know how that did not happen, so right, you know?
So, so was there like a moment when you realize that that the situation was as dire as it was?
Yeah, as soon as the five o'clock in the morning happened, sirens siren, siren, siren, And then you know.
So did you try to evacuate after that point? And what were the what were the options? There were no options.
I guess there were no options because I packed my bags and I was you know, I had communicated with my manager, who you know, who has two kids of her own, and in that communication, I realized that I'm on my own, not just with my management or you know, but also executives of the network, also my pa from the show. Also, I cannot call these people because these people have a war.
To deal with.
I have a house, I have a home. I'm not from here. I'm an American citizen. I have my ticket out. Maybe not now, maybe I got to find it. Maybe I got to find a way, but I was okay. My family wasn't here. So I realized that regardless of what anyone wants to do for me, they should be focusing on themselves. So I grab my back back and I spent eight days in a different place, adjacent to someone more safer. You know, I was safe until I wasn't. And that group of people told me you have to go.
They put me on the train. Because I was an American citizen, I was allowed to just get out. But I was on a trade that was nine nine percent women and children.
And so it was.
It was a wild, wild situation. I saw everything in.
My eyes and where did the train go? Where did the train go?
It was.
There was a very hectic moment because I was given. I was I was giving into someone's care and said and they and they told that man, They're like, hey, you have to get him to the to the train station and make sure he's on the train. Well, that that gentleman did not want to.
Do it because it was past it would have been past curve a curfew time, and he wouldn't be able to get home. So I and obviously I speak.
Both languages, so I'm hearing, but he's talking to his you know people, and times he's like, look, I'm gonna drop them off on a be out.
And so there was like you know, pump sweaty kind of situation.
But I got shoved into the train and it was at that time was like where do you want to go?
And I was just trying to go west. So I was trying to get to the city Old Leviv. And after that works something out. There was an announcement.
Somebody came in said there's a train to Warsaw and I was like, I'm in you know, anywhere, obviously I can just go.
That's how I ended up in Poland.
Okay, you ended up in Poland. Wow, that is a terrifying, terrifying story. And we all know how long this has gone on and a terrible tragedy of that war. But to be there, your connections, you know, being in America and in that situation, did you ever feel like that you could possibly be specifically targeted based on being such a high profile you know, American Ukrainian Ukrainian American there or was it just kind of all out Bendlamen.
I think that I drew attention when I started posting things on my social media right, and I know I drew attention because we all see the social media numbers that that show to us. I went from like some couple of thousand likes to you know, half a million people tuning in, literally tuning in.
I realized that much later.
I didn't even think of that, but I led it.
Back in US.
And on day two, I got an anonymous phone call from some gentlemen who I met maybe a decade ago, who happened to be as he said, and I get I don't I don't even know his name, but somebody just called.
Me is like, hey, we met a wrong time ago.
I want to tell you that I'm an ex military, but I still have my connections, and I just want you to be very careful.
Because you're in a puddence list. Like my friend, I don't know what to do with this insuation.
Wow, I got a lot to process and I just want to go back to my family.
So that's one of those pieces of information that you're like, did I really need to know that? You know, because like you said it, it's like what what what what am I supposed to do with that piece of information?
Well, that that was My thing is that that happened literally as soon as I landed back in US, which was, uh, you know, once the beginning of March. Now, and you know what I realized is is I had a lot of PTSD to deal with.
Like, you know, I was strong, I'm a strong Brooklyn race man.
You know us, you know, we don't want to talk about weaknesses. You know, we don't want to talk about you know, some things that going on in here that you can't understand and you're reacting to.
And it took until I asked my wife. I woke up and I'm.
Like, as I'm waking up, I'm like, why am I sad? Like nothing happened yet today for me to be sad And she's like, because you're depressed.
You know.
And I'm like, what is that? That's some word that like someone else, it's not me. I'm like, I'm going to go to the gym. I'll push it out and we'll be fire. But so now I had a lot of that to deal with. The problem is that at the same time is when you know, my dad here and my parents everybody involved just started doing crazy things with our foundation.
If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us in supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word bacon to seven zero seven zero seven zero. Your gift empowers us to continue to produce programs that highlight the incredible work of everyday heroes, well also enabling us to provide essential resources to those that need it the most. Once again, text b a c N to seven zero seven zero seven zero or visit SixDegrees dot org to learn more.
You started this organization based on your experience and your ties to Ukraine, called Baronova twenty seven, and we have an actual member of your family here to talk about it. This is the first time we've ever had a member of a family, so we want to welcome Sasha to the show. Hey, thanks for joining us. Hey guys, So you're in You're in Manhattan.
Yes, it's actually Jersey City.
Oh, Jersey City, Okay, hot, So it's across so Lonhattan.
It's beautiful.
So tell us tell us what what what is Baronova.
Twenty seven BARANOA twenty seven. It's first of all, it's the name of the street and address Medessa that I grew up, was born and grew up.
Allison val was born and grew up as well.
And it's uh when when war in New Quine started February twenty four, the first the name of the organization immediately.
Came to our mind like it shouldn't be like I know what twenty seven. It's very it's very home for Ukrainian and for people from Ukraine the edges. And that's how we started. And we wanted to The simple mission that we had in our mind was to help. We didn't know how by the way I'm started, we had no idea, had not foul, but we knew that we wanted to help, no matter how, no matter what to send, how to send, where are we're gonna get money, how we're gonna get money. We just want to help, to
help with grant and that's it. That was only that was only the mission.
It was only the point.
You know, that's a I mean, you bring up something really interesting, which is, yeah, you wanted to help, but you didn't need to help, do you know what I mean? What's the thing that makes you feel that way? Because it would be very easy. You're in the States, you've lived in the States for a really long time. You're saying, if you're secure to make to to look at a situation and say I can't just stand by and keep
living my life. I have to do something. I don't know what that something is, but I have to do something. What is it that you What do you think is it that makes you feel that way?
The truth to all I need to tell that to be honest completely were here twenty eight years. I never want to be back to your pay but this twenty eight years and never I didn't have that that in my answering planetial question.
I need it. Never being like, oh I have.
Some depression, i'd have a nostle g I have just I'm missing my friends or my CD.
No. Never, I just consider myself.
As America, even though it's my sound or they're pathetic. But yes, I consider myself with Ukraine and America, and I will fight with this country Ukraine, yes my rules, it might homeland. But for twenty eight years I never wanted to go back to Ukrain. I was paying one time with Max when it was popular, undancy the stars. I don't know what wanted him to go back himself, that's all. That was only the reason I came back
to Ukraine at one time. But when war started and I see Max trapped in Piev and literally with their eyes with the tears, and my wife even leave allus five days.
I was my my my heart, my blood, everything was boiling. It was a different feelings.
It's still not my war, telling that to everyone, it's not my war, but I feel the pain through Max at the beginning, and that was the reason why we just put all effort, everything that we could to health Ipranion.
I'm assuming there still must be some family over there though, or or or friends or it's friends.
Sometimes Nights has more people in the grade right than me, but has more friends that I do. I have some family member, not direct, not only, but like second cousins.
So how would you describe the mission of Baronova twenty seven and are what are the nuts and bolts of how it works for people that.
Doesn't the mission or particularly disorganization, because again they're the help. It's such a wide specter of how we can help the Ukrainia right in order for us to not go left or ride to cower many many areas we can we cannot. We're not billionaires, so now we cannot cover a lot. We try to concentrate our effort on two things. On actually one thing. First, we started from sending the help, sending the goods from first eight military equipment to the
ready formal. We saw we send close to half million, half million pounds of goods from New Jersey fourth week to Ukraine.
And these were donations people people who donated. Is that is that just people bring in goods, whatever it is, whatever they whatever you could use, they would bring it and donated for.
We sat Amazon, We set Amazon Amazon is say okay, Amazon Tribe.
I was going to say that.
Immediately there was a huge rush of people trying to help, and everybody's asking what do I do?
Where do I go?
And that's also why we're like, we'll bring it to us, we'll take care of it. And then we ended up with one hundred people volunteering every single day coming to location that my dad organized and he would organize volunteers.
To do the job, to pack, to ship to all the stuff.
So you know, uh, and then we imploy implemented like what he said, Amazon registry, so we would just put lists and keep updating.
The lists and have people see donate that way.
I didn't even realize that, I'm sorry to interrupted, I don't I didn't even realize that that was a possibility on Amazon. So that's that's that's that's super cool, and I think it's important for people to know that that you can go out too Amazon and find your Baronova twenty seven registry almost like a wedding, right like whatever, a list of.
Things and a hundred items. That's two hundred, okay, two hundred also two hundred items from a set as it said, from a bulletproof bulletproof ass to baby formal.
Does an Amazon deliver it or do you do? They deliver it two years so they delivered directly to no.
No, no, they delivered to us fourth Week. Beside the production at was ware house five heat in the primary estate. The landlord of fourth Week the Navy.
That space was wowre free over end.
It was for six months, for five months.
But it was full full production with.
The smack sat over one hundred volundtiers came as a work and we were full production.
Amazing.
We started from that we sent as I said, well to have million pounds and goods, and then during this time we start to pertain what would be more tangible because again hundred thousands of people sent stuff to Ukraine's they have everything. They do have beery formal, I'm sure. But what they don't have they don't have, especially now they don't.
Have a place to leave, to displace.
Ukrainian people who are still in Ukraine but unfortunately needed to be displaced or relocated from west, from east Jupuprane to the west of Ukraine or anywhere else within Ukraine.
That was our main concern.
During this time, to help these people, to bring the housing, to build a high housing.
This displaced people. That's why we full the Turkey.
We found the manufacturing Turkey and we ordered tours ten module models houses modules houses wow like yes, like a container that being it's a call flat pack.
We bought them for our own money.
We collect this money through go fund me.
That it was another story.
We started goth fund Me from day one and that's how we collected this money.
We collect clothes to half million dollars.
Most of this money went to their shipping to build goods and the remaining money went to the first village we called Baranava twenty seven village ten houses.
Being built in Ruby region.
It's in west Ukraine for forty people. I foll there secretly in June for the grand opening. Nobody knew, even my family, Max didn't know that A fool there. Oh we called them from the from the border. I texted them and said, guys, I'm sorry, I apologize I did.
I'll let you know.
I know that it's bad, but I'm in Ukraine. It was a pulse and then it was bombarding. Make how there you want? I am just not let them know about it.
But but that's that's amazing. So is that is that moving forward? Is that really what you're focused on? Is the is the is the housing? I mean it's I mean, so I'm guessing I want to make sure that people know how they can help out this effort.
We want to just I want to clarify that. You know, when I came out of Ukraine and our foundation was already on full full scale production.
In New Jersey, We've really quickly.
Realized that this full scale production is going to be hard to keep because people are going to be fatigued, and which is what we saw.
We saw eventually that we.
Were write and people fatigued from donating ten dollars at a time or buying this sock or do you know. It was hardest and then summer came and sort of people relaxed.
A little bit.
But what we were doing is we we saw while I was in Poland and I was trying to help with logistics, the chain of logistics, you know, I was overseeing how our goods are going to be received in Poland and how they're going to continue being transferred.
What we saw.
We got a request from a orphanage where they collected two hundred orphans from east of Ukraine and those bombarded cities and they moved them to the western Ukraine. And when I got this request by virtue of my friends who started to you know, text and this was a huge underground network of people reaching out what they need and we would then find someone in Ukraine who.
Can then deliver that.
Outside of what Baranova was doing, you know, we were doing a lot of things too. So we got this request and I was in Shamasilla at that time, which was near border town, and what they said is that there's two hundred children of various ages. There's plus they're handlers and they're in that space.
And I'm like, well, what is that space?
That space was like a summer camp that was supposed to be up for demolition and I'm like, well, what do they have in that space? They have a kitchen. I'm like great, but what else? And then they showed me pictures. Because what we did with Burnover is we you know, I literally just went to supermarket in Poland.
And I got a U hole truck.
And I bought like two and a half thousand dollars worth of just food supplies, you know, woods, oils and all that. So we started supplying it and then we got the pictures, and the pictures showed that this is not a livable building. There's no like working heat and all that stuff. Going into the summer, it was okay,
but what are they going to do later? So that's when we realized that people in Ukraine, now, the ones that went to European countries end up being placed in families, right, but the people in you cra with no electricity, no heat, especially now when we're seeing what was what's happening, the infrastructure is being destroyed. Those people need a place to
live and rebuild and help. And so what we're focused on is helping people inside Ukraine stay inside Ukraine, gotcha, so that they continue helping Ukraine from within and not you know, be refugees somewhere else.
Gotcha. Wow, I mean it's incredibly impressive. H what what you guys have done? And Sasha, you know I I I I've heard quite a bit from Max about you you and uh and Uh you know his mom and and and the way that he was raised. And he gives you a lot of props. I don't know if he tells you to your face, but he gives you a lot of it gives you a lot of props for for what's happened with him. How how do you feel about him and his his success and what what
he's accomplished just as as a father. Uh, not not only in the in the world of dance, but also in in this kind of laying this foundation for having having a sense of giving back.
Uh, I need to yes, what Max said? You said that Max told you gave me a lot of props. We normally give you props to each.
Other through other people for the third party.
It's it's really happened. It's really happened that we say to each other face I love you, or that I love you, I just enjoyed being with you all that I'm.
Enjoying being with you.
I respect you and oh, I'm enjoying being respecting you. Right, we're almost all the time, at least for me, and I get the critics, and I just criticized myself. But for me, I just rather tell some bartender, oh this is my son, tell him that I'll love him, you know what I mean? And sometimes does from Papa the Strikers. Well, but what I can say, I'm very proud of Max. I'm very proud of everything that he did before before Ukraine, when.
He was sixteen seventeen years old, young adult who didn't know what he was, but he started to help to teach and writing, start dance again to help the family to Soviet in the United States back in ninety ninety eight, right was ninety ninety seven, and through all these years he sacrificed. At that point, he sacrificed his last career just to help and that school that I'm not the best.
I couldn't just replace him. I'm just going to do a lot of other stuff, but not to teach advanced. It was his beginning and that throughout all these years, even being successful advancing with the stars, he always helped other people. And I would say hundreds hundreds of people right now a.
Seal in that business.
There's been people who he drove there and he helped them to establish, help them to settle, the help down with advices and everything, and still help them. And when war started, it was his heart who just kept him here.
He didn't want. We asked him to.
Not go to your paint before war because he could not easily not go there. And we went him to get out from the paint before February twenty four and he said, no, guys, everything will be okay. I want to finish when I started here. I want to just continue to do because alightens people. I respect that meaning has a big card. And hopefully this heart will stay big and nothing hurt him. That's what I wish him all the time.
That's beautiful, man, That's that is that is beautiful. And you know, I'm glad that we could have this podcast so that you could both know that you love each other without with without without hearing it from a bartender. Just think of me as your bartender.
You know, I could see I could see us on a on a on a doctor Field episode at this point. But you know, just tell each other how you feel. I I I just want to quickly add like, that's that's that's kind of us, that's us in a nutshell, and that's the entire family. We you know, we we come from such such humble beginnings and such.
Normal regular way.
You know, where I'm often confused with with some celebrity from Los Angeles. You know, I'm not I'm never going to become one. Uh, I'm always that. We don't have a problem saying we love you.
We know we love each other.
We we have that feeling we you know, we just don't act in the way that that that you know, we don't finish up on because Okay, I love you dad, Bye.
We'll say each other when we see each other.
But you know, this man is everything that that I have become is because of him.
And you know, our mom's.
Nurturing and his his leadership, and it's always been that way. So you know the fact that we my brother and I you know, I don't see myself not doing stuff with my family. I don't see myself not helping my family. But I also I'm very proud of bringing my family with me to whatever I'm doing because I know that this right here is going to be possible that I'm going to be some celebrity face, you know, of some
kind of horrible situation. And I know that my family will not only have my back, but will continue my mission too, because because it's real and so you know, I love that it's this. I love that I didn't have to go to a corporation and and and talk about, hey, let's open a foundation. So you know, this is organic, as we say nowadays in the business world, this is this is something that you know, resonates with people because this is organic.
And as I said.
Before, we're here for the long haul, you know. We We're not here for a couple of months and then go on with life. We would love to go on with life. I would love for this to be over now. But when it's over, I'm going to go back to Ukraine anyway. You know, my dad's gonna continue, you know, continue building housing.
Anyway. We're gonna you.
Know, re re reposition ourselves to whatever we can do bigger and a bigger scale. Anyway, I think this is this is a lifetime connection and relationship.
At this point, well, I got to say, you guys are it's incredibly impressive to me the work that you're doing. Uh, keep it up. You know, it's it's it's it's so important, and just uh, I don't I just I really, I'm so grateful that both of you, uh came on today and it was a fascinating conversation. Maxwe'll give you a there's this Absasha. Maybe you don't know this, maybe neither one of you do. There's this dumb game called the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon where there's always a connection
to me. It's somebody. I didn't make it up, somebody else did. But do you actually know Max r r six degrees connection?
Uh?
Do I know what this is? So? Do I know our connection?
Do you know our connection?
I didn't know?
Okay, we're connected by actually only two steps because I did a movie called She's having a Baby and Kirsty Alley had a small puss and She's having a baby, and you dance with Kristy Alley.
So there's that kirs Sally twice.
Okay, so maybe that doubles it. I don't all right, cut it in half.
I don't know.
It's a dumbicide. Uh. And just one more question for you, are you going to replace Len oh Man where the stars? I mean, come on, you're there the perfect guy.
Right if if I'm not me and I'm saying it about someone from a side, I would say that I am the best candidate to replace somebody like that.
Okay, so we heard it here first, folks.
I would love to. I would love to.
I would love my show to stay on air forever. Honestly, I think Dancing the Stars has been that thing that the entire generation, you know, we we were the only show for a long time that you know, three four generations can watch together and be interested.
So I'm I'm a.
Huge fan of dancing in general. Like I said, our family, Pops is the witness. Yesterday, our mom had our first, her first competition at the right page of sixty three, so awesome. We're now waiting for my dad to join and maybe they'll do some couple dancing too.
But I never know something to look for.
But the last thing I want to say, thank you so much, and I wouldn't be me and this wouldn't be our mission. And if I wouldn't direct people and say hey, please follow us and find Burnover twenty seven on whether it's social media, we are Barnover twenty seven dot org in our website. We are five oh one c three nonprofit public charity, so you know that we're real and legit, and I want to tell people that it's very very very cold in Ukraine now because there's
no headen electricity. So you know we are the vessel. You are the you know, the ten fifteen dollars donation. That's all I want.
Well, thank you, thank you for doing that. Ladies and gentlemen, b A r A n o Va twenty seven. Check it out. There's a lot that you can do and you can help the people of Ukraine. And thank you both so much for being here. Ship.
Thank you guys, Thank you to help the house. Thank you appreciate it.
If you do, hey, thanks for listening to another episode of six degrees. And if you want to learn more about Barronova twenty seven and all the work that Maxim and his father are up to, go to their website at Bornova twenty seven dot org bron Nova twenty seven dot org. Plus you can find all the links in.
Our show notes and if you like.
What you're here, make sure you subscribe to the show on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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