I cant just sit and watch: Kimberly man plans film fundraiser before making 9th trip to Ukraine

KIMBERLY — A part of Rob Sturgill’s heart has become Ukrainian.

Rob Sturgill Ukraine

Rob Sturgill of Type of Wood Charities on Tuesday, Feb. 17, displays Ukrainian military patches in Twin Falls. Next month, Sturgill will make his ninth trip to Ukraine.

His desire to help the war-torn country burns strong, and he’s willing to risk his life in the endeavor.

Sturgill, of Kimberly, will make his ninth trip to Ukraine next month, taking supplies and organizing relief efforts. He said his desire to help out can be difficult to explain.

Shortly after the war began in 2022, he saw a photo of Ukrainian men tearfully saying goodbye to their children as the young ones fled the country, while the men stayed behind to fight in the war.

Rob Sturgill Ukraine

Rob Sturgill of Kimberly talks Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, about his upcoming trip to Ukraine to render aid. He is hosting a film screening on Tuesday to raise money.

“That struck me so hard that I thought I couldn’t just sit here and watch this,” Sturgill said. “I’ve got to do something.”

Sturgill and a group of his friends traveled to Europe shortly thereafter and shuttled refugees from Ukraine to Poland in rented vans, and his efforts have grown exponentially through his charity.

He credits miracles for providing a path.

“One thing led to another, and one relationship led to another and opened up doors that allowed me to get involved,” he said.

The Full Gospel Slavic Church in Boise and another church in Ohio have been chief partners with Sturgill’s organization, Type of Wood Charities.

More than 300 shipping containers, full of donated food and supplies, have been sent to Ukraine as a result of the partnership. In addition, Sturgill has helped set up mobile food kitchens and bread-making kitchens, often at Ukrainian churches.

Rob Sturgill Ukraine Aid

Ukrainian women hold loaves of bread that were baked in wood-fired stoves supported by a Kimberly man’s charity and its partners.

This month, Sturgill is somberly marking another anniversary, remembering the four years since the full-scale invasion.

The anniversary brings an appropriate time, he said, for the public to learn more about what is happening in Ukraine. Sturgill is hosting a screening of the award-winning documentary “Soldiers of Song” at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Orpheum Theatre in Twin Falls, with a social starting at 6 p.m. The public is invited.

The money raised will help fund summer camps for Ukrainian children.

“It’s a great story of Ukrainian artists coming together to lift and support their country,” Sturgill said of the documentary, “so I think it’s a great way to help educate the community of what is still going on in Ukraine, but also hopefully to raise some funds to help relieve the suffering in Ukraine.”

Rob Sturgill Ukraine

Rob Sturgill talks Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, about his upcoming trip to Ukraine while holding a piece of shrapnel taken from the war-torn country.

There is suffering, and it’s getting worse, he said.

This winter in Ukraine has been frigid — “subzero temperatures and Russia has really focused on taking out the energy infrastructure,” Sturgill said, lamenting Russia’s focus on striking civilian targets.

“It’s terroristic,” he said, and a violation of international law.

Dangers of the trip

During next month’s 12-day trip to Ukraine, Sturgill and a half-dozen other people he will travel with, including an emergency room doctor from Pocatello and a medical assistant, will check on his relief projects and meet prospective partners.

Sturgill admits to feeling anxious each time he makes his trips, “and this trip especially because there seems to be a push for Russia to push for the end of the war, which means that they’re sending drones and missiles on a nightly basis throughout Ukraine.”

Sturgill leans on a higher power for safety.

“I feel like we’re doing God’s work and I’ve felt his protection,” he said.

In a trip he took to Ukraine last November, a bomb exploded, damaging a church his group had stayed in the night before.

“I was kind of upset about it,” he said, “worried that maybe they were trying to target us,” surmising that Russian forces might have earlier detected a clump of foreign cellphone signals.

Sturgill said he tries to focus on the task at hand rather than worry about the war.

He feels obligated to enter dangerous areas, especially when he and his partners have volunteers who go in daily to deliver food and medical supplies.

‘Next thing you know, we’re in Poland’: Idaho man helps Ukrainians flee Russian invasion

Rob Sturgill of Kimberly was in Idaho on March 6, when the idea struck him that he could go to Ukraine to assist refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.

Sturgill said aid, including food from mobile, wood-fired kitchens his charity has helped set up, goes to the very desperate.

“It’s the elderly. It’s the disabled. It’s the poor,” he said. “It’s the folks who haven’t really had the opportunity to leave and they’re still living in these circumstances without heat, without running water — basically living in root cellars and basements.”

Anyone can help

Sturgill’s charity has benefited from large donations from local manufacturers, including Clif Bar — which donated 250,000 bars — and Almagmated Sugar. Latter-Day Saint Charities has donated flour to help bakeries churn out 100,000 loaves of bread per month, and medicine from Dick’s Pharmacy in Twin Falls has made its way to Ukraine.

Rob Sturgill

Rob Sturgill, left, is seen during a previous trip to Ukraine.

Smaller donations can also have a huge impact, Sturgill said, and urges people to take a leap of faith and help out a good cause, whatever it may be, when they feel prompted.

A school in Kimberly held a bake sale that raised funds for Ukraine, Sturgill said, and a small children’s church group in Utah set up a lemonade stand that raised $1,200 to buy coats, gloves and hats for a Ukrainian orphanage.

“To this day, that’s probably the most incredible experience that I’ve had,” he said, “is going into that orphanage and watching … the facial expressions on these kids’ faces as they saw these new coats and hats.

“It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Film screening to raise money for Ukraine

A screening of the film “Soldiers of Song” will be held Tuesday at the Orpheum Theatre in Twin Falls, with a social starting at 6 p.m. for the public to learn more about the war in Ukraine, and the screening starting at 7 p.m.

The film is described as “a powerful documentary that follows Ukrainian musicians as they use the universal language of music to uplift, unite, and defend their culture amid the ongoing Russian invasion. Featuring intimate interviews and stirring performances from artists across genres — from rock and folk to classical — the film captures moments in bomb shelters, on frontlines, and on international stages, revealing how music becomes an act of resistance and hope.”

Money raised from the event will help send Ukrainian children to summer camps that offer fun activities and counseling. More than 8,000 kids enjoyed the camps last year, said Rob Sturgill of Type of Wood Charities, and he hopes 20,000 children can attend this year.

Purchase tickets to the documentary and learn more at https://orpheumtwinfalls.com.

Information on Sturgill’s Type of Wood Charities can be found at typeofwood.org.