Downloaded from YTS.MX
- [lights buzzing] - [thunder rumbling]
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[footsteps approaching]
[light buzzing]
♪
[delicate, fast-paced music]
[speaking other language]
♪
[narrator] The word hunger, it's complicated.
It can be used positively to suggest a craving,
- or a thirst to do great things. - [Zelenskyy speaking Ukrainian]
But in war, hunger can be weaponized, weakening families,
brought on by a need for food.
[sirens wailing]
♪
[gentle piano music]
[overlapping sirens]
Jason Birchard has a hunger to feed people.
Like his father, and grandfather before him.
But the feeding goes beyond food itself.
Food should unite us,
and it can transport us,
bringing the flavors of Ukraine and Eastern Europe
to a corner of New York City.
♪
[smooth jazz music]
♪
Edwin, how are you?
So what we're doing here, I want to freshen up the yellow,
and whatever's red is blue.
We're trying to highlight the Ukrainian flag, yellow and blue.
Thank you.
[indistinct conversation]
[Jason] I've worn many hats here as a proprietor of Veselka.
Is everybody enjoying?
Saw a lot of things, a lot of different characters
coming through this place.
I found myself at the age of 13 working here.
I never really envisioned
a long-term future here in the business.
Okay, time for coffee.
And with the onslaught of the war,
some days I need to give a little extra love
to my Ukrainian staff who have been
unsure of what the future holds.
[narrator] Dima is one of roughly 30 Ukrainian employees.
His mother and aunt are twins, and living in Ukraine.
Concerned for their safety, he has had one foot on a plane,
ready to fight on the front.
At Veselka, family has always been
at the center of its long history.
My grandfather, Wolodymyr Darmochwal,
originated from a small town in western Ukraine called Bolekhiv.
♪
Escaping Russian oppression back in the late 1940s,
he wanted to create something here
that the family could carry on.
He started this business in 1954,
in the center of little Ukraine.
[narrator] At that time, little Ukraine
was home to roughly 60,000 Ukrainians.
Today, there are only 25,000.
Wolodymyr would name his storefront Veselka,
which means rainbow.
And he felt that at the end of his rainbow,
he would find his pot of gold.
[train whistling]
[Jason] He opened it as a little candy store, newsstand,
and a tenth of the space of what it is currently,
and expanded it over the years.
My father married into the family, married my mother,
Marta Darmochwal.
[Tom] My mother and father met at a college mixer.
After one of their first encounters, my mother,
at 19, was pregnant.
I know that Wolodymyr had hopes and dreams of his daughter
marrying a good Ukrainian boy,
so he kind of reconciled to the next best thing,
a good American boy.
[speaking other language]
- Good morning. - Hello.
You happen to know where Jason is?
I thought he was with you.
I thought he was with you, yeah.
Don't know where he went.
It's a sidewalk, sidewalk.
That means you walk on the sidewalk.
Bike is in the bike--
Okay.
[Tom] What's at the top of the Hit Parade?
We've got the Ukrainian Institute event tonight.
Three catering orders today.
We've got our renovation meeting this afternoon.
Yeah. Wow.
We got to be careful we don't take on too much.
I'm already a little concerned,
because Jason just says yes to everything, and...
There's a guy who used to work here.
He's here. Can you just talk to him?
Maybe he can come in with-- come in in the morning.
He's a good guy. Let's give him a...
Sure.
Slava. My boys are cool. [speaking other language]
Somebody just reminded me that he had some major problems.
Let him go today, and then I'll tell him
I'm going to go a different direction.
I forgot about that.
Yes, I was going to tell you like a mother.
Everybody comes, you have a good heart, but he's no good.
- Okay. - [baby crying]
[Tom] My father-in-law was thrilled to have a grandson.
I remember the look in his eyes, you know,
looking at Jason, and he asked us
to give Jason a Ukrainian name.
We gave him a Ukrainian middle name, Bogdan.
So what was your own father saying at this point?
Obviously, you had a lot on your plate now.
Was he asking you, you know, what's the plan, what's next?
Yeah, my dad and I weren't particularly close.
I mean, honestly, I wish he had asked me that,
but I never really had a clear vision.
So I decided to drop out of college temporarily,
and I started working at Veselka as a holding pattern
while I figured life out.
[narrator] Starting work as a weekend cashier in 1966,
Tom's holding pattern would last the next 54 years.
[Tom] Wolodymyr, he was doing okay.
You know, he figured out what he'd need to sell to survive.
Ukrainian newspapers, pens, pencils, cigarette fluid.
Apparently, some drug dealer asked for glassine envelopes.
I don't think he even knew what they used them for.
Over time, he sold coffee and a few little Ukrainian dishes,
but it was much different from what is there now.
Give me French fries and deluxe veggie.
[speaking other language]
[chef] Hey! Sharing perogies.
[Tom] We're basically a food factory.
All the soups are homemade, we bake bread,
we make all the vareniki by hand.
[Jason] On an average day, the ladies are making 3,000.
Now during the war, they're making up to 5,000 per day.
That's a lot of love in those vareniki.
[Tom] We're shipping food across the country.
I'm always in awe of how we get it all done.
♪
[upbeat traditional music]
[Lisa] It is an extremely small space.
Space is too small for everyone.
This is a big problem.
Everyone wants to use the ovens at the same time,
and the top two don't work.
They just recently broke, so we'll work in the full kitchen.
All the food that we make are from these two.
The air conditioning, the grills, the fryers,
everything's just kind of hanging on by a thread.
Why is this here?
We're getting to the point where we can't grow anymore.
[woman exclaiming]
When I first came to Veselka,
the entire business was in this small room.
The back wall, where there were 5 phone booths, was right here.
You can still see the beam.
So from here on was a-- was a button shop.
When my father-in-law took that room over,
it was entry by his invitation only.
And he would host meetings with other Ukrainian patriots
to discuss the latest news, and how to help
people in Ukraine under Russian rule.
My father-in-law was a presence, a leader in the community.
He was a founding member of a scouting organization called
Plast, who bought the building where we are.
[Jason] He was a very patriotic Ukrainian.
He had always envisioned a free Ukraine, and I'm sure
he's turning in his grave, seeing what's happening now.
[Zelenskyy speaking other language]
[speaking other language]
Staff members here who have immediate family there,
they're in a state of shock.
Me and Larissa, from Ukraine, city Lviv.
Luda from Ukraine, city Ternopil.
Uh, Oksana from Belarus.
Your fellow workers that are from Ukraine...
- Yes. - Uh...
Have some of them or any of them found it too hard
to work here while, you know,
there's all these problems back home in Ukraine?
- No. - Everybody works?
Yes, yes.
Sorry, I don't speak English very well.
- I think you do. - [all laughing]
- Okay. - Um...
[director] That's interesting.
So I would just try to focus on...
Vitalii, you tell them, pick up the phone and take out...
So the old-school Soviet mentality,
which those older perogy ladies grew up in,
there is no such thing as mental health.
[Tom] They're stoic.
Exactly. Very stoic.
They grew up in a system where
they never had freedom of speech,
or a bill of rights,
or any of the liberties that we have.
So we have a young man, and you may have talked to him,
or maybe you will later, Vitalii.
[director] Okay.
He told me his mom went out to
the countryside to be with his grandma.
His dad is right in the middle of Kyiv,
in a bunker with a rifle,
and he's worried to death about it.
[director] I heard your family's in Kyiv.
Yes, they're at home right now in Kyiv.
How are they doing?
As far as I know, they're doing okay,
but I couldn't call them today.
I feel a little frustrated.
Would you have a little bit of time to sit with us
- and just do a quick interview? - Let's do it another day.
Okay. It's no problem.
♪
[slow jazz music]
♪
[Tom] My father-in-law lived across the street from Veselka,
and his wife lived in West Orange, New Jersey,
and he would come home sometimes on weekends.
I and some of the other staff would try to gently, you know,
you need to go home, you need to rest.
When he would go across the street,
he would sit in the window, and if he saw that
it was getting busy, he'd throw his clothes on and run down
and kind of scamper around nervously.
So yeah, he was definitely a type-A personality.
[narrator] On a cold January night in 1974,
Wolodymyr worked into the late hours.
He suffered a heart attack.
By the time he was taken to Bellevue Hospital,
he had already passed.
[Tom] We got close because I worked with him,
and I think he appreciated the help,
and he could see that I was interested in the business,
and nobody else in the family was really all that interested.
Mykola, his son, had a tough relationship with him.
Wolodymyr could be dictatorial and difficult,
but he didn't really treat me that way.
So I agreed short-term to manage the business,
until we figured out what the family
would want to do long-term.
Right after he passed away,
heroin flooded the neighborhood,
and they started building the 2nd Avenue subway.
They took away the sidewalk in front of Veselka,
so when you stepped out the door,
you took one step, and you were in 2nd Avenue.
Neighborhood just went into a steep decline.
I was also starting to fail financially.
[Jason] The strains of running a business
caused him to be here a lot.
As my grandfather had a place across the street,
my father had a place just down the block.
When my younger brother Tom Jr. and I were living
with my mother in New Jersey,
we would only see him maybe once a month.
People could see that I was going to keep Veselka going
to maintain it as a kind of Ukrainian hub,
but some people in the Ukrainian community
really kind of gave me the cold shoulder, and with time,
that business model declined.
[narrator] Ukrainians were leaving the neighborhood
in droves. It wasn't because of
the drugs, crime, or even Tom.
It was because of the increasing rent.
[Tom] I had a young fellow working for me, and he said,
if you want to succeed, you got to have
really good coffee, and you got to have really good bacon.
He said, why don't you do what you want to do,
instead of what your father-in-law did?
I had to take a leap.
I couldn't afford to leap.
I skimped on things like the sales tax and the payroll,
and eventually they came looking for me.
I couldn't tell somebody I ran Veselka,
because it was a laughingstock, but the state
gave me an opportunity to make a sizable deposit,
and sure enough, we were chosen to be
one of the first places in our area to sell lotto tickets,
and those turned out to be hugely popular.
Shortly after that, I put an ad in The Village Voice
to hire a short-order cook, and a fellow named Max Cholosky
showed up for the job, and fortuitously,
he had worked for his dad in Brooklyn,
at a place that was very similar.
But along with that, the city
gave up on building the 2nd Avenue subway,
and they restored everything.
Right around that same time,
we got a positive review in The Village Voice.
It was exactly what we needed,
at exactly, I was going to say the right time.
I mean, it was way past time.
I know he put a lot of hours and a lot of sweat, tears
into the business in those years.
While my mother decided that
she wanted to make a large move to the West Coast,
but she wanted to do it alone.
When my parents separated,
and my father gained custody of us,
it was a very confusing time,
and we were torn that my mother wasn't here.
To help fill that void,
my father said, "You're going to earn your keep."
I found myself working here as a busboy at the age of 13.
It was a good distraction for me.
It kept me busy.
He enjoyed it, and I certainly
appreciated having the help.
[Jason] As a young man, he was a father that pointed
me in the right direction.
He would always stress education.
And then as I came into the business, he was my boss.
[Tom] I'm sure you remember,
[indistinct] remind you about the cookies?
- They're all ready to go. - [Tom] Okay, great.
We're gonna have that on Thursday.
[Tom] It's going to be a big hit 'cause we're gonna...
[Jason] He always said in this business,
it's not only location, location, location,
but it's the details, details, details.
I was staying with him at his house when I was
working here as a busboy, and one day, my uncle called me
up to the office and said that I had failed
to make my bed before leaving the house for the day.
So I was sent home to fix that before continuing
on with my workday.
My father was hard on me, making sure that details were met.
[narrator] But Jason never envisioned a long-term
future in the family business.
[Jason] I had studied finance and economics in college,
and when I graduated, my father picked me up and said,
"What are you going to do with your life now?"
And I said, I don't know.
He goes, "Well, why don't you come work
back in the family business with me,
and let's see how it goes."
It was the spring of 1990, and we noticed that there were
a lot of people on the streets here late at night,
a lot of bars and clubs.
[narrator] Ratner's, Katz's Delicatessen, and Kiev were
serving up 24/7 Eastern European fare in the East Village.
For Veselka, it was just a matter of time.
We decided, let's try opening overnight on weekends at first.
I was going to be the one responsible for it,
so I took it on.
The bars would close, people stone-tripping wild.
2, 3 o'clock in the morning, you could come here,
and there were great scenes going on.
[Jason] Our mural says, "We serve soup to nuts."
The city that never sleeps definitely has its share
of characters that walk the streets late at night.
It was a huge success right off the bat.
And a few months later,
we decided to do it 7 days a week.
I would typically come in at 4 or 5 in the afternoon
and stay all the way through 6 or 7 the next morning.
There's not a lot of people that would take that on.
And eventually he got sick of doing that,
so that was a conversation.
[Jason] We always had a cordial relationship over the years,
but our relationship was business-like.
When we gathered for family gatherings, he was my father,
but we would always end up talking business.
Jason would call his father "Tom,"
instead of "Dad" or something,
and there was no hugs, there was a handshake.
That, to me, was kind of shocking.
Veselka is so interwoven to the fabric of their lives.
The line is blurred, I think, between, you know,
outside the walls of the restaurant and-- and, you know,
personal life at home.
[Jason] In that sense, I never had a father
growing up in the business.
[Jessyka] I remember him always talking to his uncle,
Mykola, every day, not only for the business,
but for anything that he needed.
And I just felt, um, maybe a disconnect.
I felt like an overworked employee
and not a family member.
[narrator] So when Jason had an opportunity to start
a similar business in Hawaii, he jumped on it.
[Tom] But that was a bad time to go away.
In 1996, we closed and did a major renovation expansion,
and he wasn't there for that, and honestly, I kind of,
you know, resented that a little bit.
I think he said, "You'll be back,"
um, but he wasn't happy.
[Tom] So that's when this wall came down.
We took over 2 more stores,
and that's when we went full bore into the restaurant
business and gave up the remnants of the candy store,
which was kind of a scary proposition.
I was there morning, noon, and night for a few months.
It was me and my general manager, Gerhard,
went through that together.
I remember Sally saying, "You came as close to having
a heart attack as I've ever seen you," because we reopened
with a place twice as big, and literally within 20 minutes
of opening the door, we filled up.
[chuckling]
The entire place flowed differently.
A lot of it was me running around like,
"Okay, spoons, where are the spoons?"
Where's the butter? Where's the sour cream?
Where's--" [chuckling]
I needed help.
And obviously having a family member is invaluable.
[Jason] Several years later, it never panned out in Hawaii.
The timing was actually very apropos, it was Y2K,
it was December of 1999, and the end of the world was
going to be happening, but, uh...
my father courted me and asked me, "Listen,
if you're still interested in the business,
there's room for--
I'll make room for you.
I could use your help."
My father, my heart and soul was here in Veselka.
[gentle inspiring music]
But as time wore on and I became a father myself,
I began to have a better understanding of
the relationship I've had with my father over the years.
The birth of my daughter brought my father and I closer.
Whatever family time that we had,
my father kept family family.
You learn these things over time.
I'm grateful and thankful for
the relationship that I have with him now.
Veselka, may I help you?
Yeah, hold it please.
[Tom] Over the years, I've kind of let him
take more and more of a leadership role
as I get more comfortable seeing him develop and learn.
2013, 2014, we began to start discussing
what's going to happen when and if he retired.
In 2015, I came in and I said, "So Tom, what do you think?
You think it's time for a new mural?"
"Eh, well, maybe, I don't know, this one's still popular."
Jason said, "No, it's time for a new mural, it's time.
Dad, I'll take care of this."
And at that moment, I saw, you know, the shift,
- and I went, "Yeah, baby." - [tapping on table]
And it just so happened that he took
over Veselka right when the pandemic hit.
He grew up with this food.
His grandmother would make this type of food.
This is really home for him.
Unfortunately, with the pandemic,
he didn't know whether Veselka was going to
continue to exist or not.
[Lisa] During some of the hardest times,
Veselka stayed open and people just gathered
here to support each other and find strength.
This corner was a good locus for people to feel
there was a-- a supportive place to go.
[Tom] We've had 9/11, we've had Sandy, and, you know,
it was important to give people a place to come together.
But when COVID hit, I didn't feel comfortable
really being in the city.
They started bringing in the refrigerated morgue trucks.
COVID definitely sped up the retirement plan.
[narrator] Amidst the worldwide pandemic,
Tom would pass Jason the torch, a true trial by fire.
[Jason] In the week leading up to our closure,
I would work the days, Vitalii would do the nights,
risking, you know, who knew what.
[Lisa] We closed down so quickly,
everyone was just in disbelief about what was happening.
[Sally] You know, when you spend your life
dedicated to helping people or feeding people
and being there through crises,
and all of a sudden, you're not there.
I mean, you feel like you pulled the rug
out from underneath them.
[Tom's voice breaking] All the love I ge-- I get
from that place, it's just...
it's really incredible.
[narrator] As the city granted outdoor dining,
the community showed its love for Veselka in a major way.
I'm constantly amazed that people will sit out there
in freezing temperatures just to be together and enjoy our food.
And I would walk out of the restaurant and say thank you,
to everybody, because if it wasn't for them,
then we would never get through this hard time.
It was unbelievable.
[Jason] We opened up for 10 or 12 hours a day,
and people were stopping by saying,
"Thank God you guys are still doing well."
And, you know, "Stay the course, we're gonna beat this."
Somebody said to me, when was the first time you were here?
And it was in the late 50s.
- Oh, really? - I was here. Oh, yeah.
And you don't want to break good habits,
and it's a good habit.
[Justin] The foundation of this business is its customers
and what it's meant to the community.
That's what's allowed it to weather many storms
for nearly 70 years now.
Everything that could be thrown at me has been thrown at me,
and we're still there, and so bring it on.
[both laughing]
♪
[siren wailing]
[reporter 1] Russia, under Vladimir Putin,
has launched what U.S. officials describe as the most
significant military action in Europe in 77 years.
[reporter 2] Dozens dead, many more injured,
including civilians.
[reporter 3] Explosions and air raid sirens have been heard in
several Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kiev.
[reporter 4] And the U.S. fears
the goal is to take over the country.
Jason was like, "Oh, my God, I can't believe the news."
[voice breaking] And look, I'm getting all choked up.
H-How can a bully do this?
Innocent lives. Children.
I-I don't understand.
Cabbage.
Carrots and celery...
[Tom] When the war started, we obviously wanted to help.
...potato, beans, and pork.
[Tom] We thought it was very appropriate for us to donate all
the borscht sales to a local nonprofit that we support.
People who don't know what to do, or who feel like I do,
uh, will go to Veselka
and feel like, "Okay, I'm doing something."
[soft saxophone music]
- [Jason] Hi. Donation? - [client] Yeah.
- Of course. - [Jason] I'll take it.
[Jessyka] Whether it's buying borscht or whether it's
donating clothes or money...
Uh, I'll take it.
Oh, my gosh.
We just started this drive 3 or 4 days ago.
How high can we pile this?
[Tom chuckling]
I think that might be enough.
- You have a donation? - Place to-- Yeah.
Yeah, just drop it right here, and we'll take it.
- Oh, okay. - Thank you so much.
[narrator] With donations in tow,
Jason and Tom head to 7th Street,
to what many consider the beating heart
- of little Ukraine. - [choir singing]
Since 1905, almost as long as there
has been a Ukrainian community in Manhattan,
the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church has been a place
for the neighborhood to gather for solace and hope.
[singing continues]
Today, it is a staging area to support the war relief effort.
[speaking foreign language]
- We got boxes in here. - [Tom] Mm-hmm.
They're repacking our boxes in here.
There's just a lot of stuff.
[speaking foreign language]
[Jason] They're overwhelmed in there.
They can't get the boxes picked up in time,
and they need financial help.
So I'm going to try to find a way to get them
the financial support from the borscht sales,
so they're going to give me the details tomorrow.
[singing continues]
That's, uh, that's the National Anthem.
[singing fades]
[restaurant din]
So, yeah, unfortunately, we're not taking money
or check donations because we're--
just, it's very complicated.
She just wanted to leave a personal check for cash.
- Oh, really? - Yes.
I kinda want to do that.
You know what, I had an old-time guy,
maybe you know who he was, he wants to shake my hand,
so he goes, "Put this to the war chest."
So I'm thinking maybe he'll give me $20, $40.
He goes, "Did you see what I gave you?"
And I took it out, gave me $500-- 5 $100 bills.
I wonder who that was.
I don't know, Smitty, he said his name was.
Oh, I know, yes.
- A guy named Smitty, maybe? - I know a guy named Smitty.
This has become my shipping center.
- Yes. - Ice packs.
It's great.
Well, now we're concerned where it's going to go,
where it's going to live once it's gone out of here.
We've been talking about renovating
the place for maybe 20 years since the last time
my father did a major renovation in 1996.
It came to fruition when our neighbor of almost 40 years,
Pam Pier, the owner of Dinosaur Hill, retired.
I love it in here.
[Jason] She gave us the opportunity to
expand into the final space.
We're going to go from about 76 seats to 109.
So when you're here right now,
you can look towards the front of the restaurant.
You get a lot of light, you know, it's open.
You can see right to the street.
- [Vitalii] I think-- - [Tom] By keeping this,
I understand what you're trying to say.
[narrator] As the guys work to
renovate for a bigger future,
they revisit their past for cautionary tales.
A 2010 restaurant called Veselka Bowery.
What I wanted to do at Bowery in a way was
build my dream restaurant.
We could have this to protect the longevity of
the business for Jason.
It was a upscale Eastern European restaurant.
It was on East 1st Street between 2nd and the Bowery,
and we called it Veselka Bowery.
But it wasn't Veselka.
The feeling that's in this restaurant
i-is probably almost impossible to duplicate.
[Jason] The wear and tear, it's kind of built in over the years.
[Tom] Ultimately, Bowery didn't succeed.
So with this renovation, I'm going to pay really close
attention to the details.
The paneling on the walls, the flooring.
The bathroom needs to be absolutely bulletproof.
- [man] Yeah. - Yeah.
We need, like, prison-quality indestructibility.
- Stainless steel toilets? - Stainless steel toilets?
- Yeah. [chuckling] - Don't laugh.
No, I-- I've put those into restaurants, yeah.
It's a real challenge, because we do want to kind
of have it be clean and efficient,
but we don't want it to look like a Starbucks.
Okay.
[Tom] And I'm happy to have Justin.
Justin has some experience with construction.
[Justin] Part of my involvement is trying to
help preserve the soul of what Veselka is.
[narrator] And most importantly, Justin wants to avoid
the potential challenges in working with family.
One of the biggest differences is the main soffit
over the kitchen has been moved forward about 2 feet.
That's this, with the menu boards on it.
I'm just worried about closing the space off too
much and bringing it too far forward.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Pulling that forward, we get to put all the ductwork behind it.
- [Dan] Yeah. - Okay.
- [overlapping chatter] - And then I also just
brought this stone, uh, just for you guys to see.
- For the counter? - [Zack] Yeah.
- That's an interesting idea. - [Zack] You know, just--
I like that.
We do the tile plus the stone top it'll be a very big change.
It'll be a totally different look.
So, listen, I get the point they're talking about.
You know, we need the smoke baffle.
That's code.
But the thing we got to remember is the counter
line's gonna come back to where I'm standing.
They're proposing, initially, to put the menu
boards all the way here.
- Right. - So I'm just saying,
if we don't need it to come that far forward,
let's push it back as far as we can.
[Jason] As of January of this year, Justin was hired.
He's joined me full-time and has really kept my
nose to the grindstone.
I consider Justin my brother.
As early as I can remember, I looked up to him,
and when we were discussing the possibility of
me joining the team,
the number one thing Tom brought up to me was,
it's important that we protect the family business,
but if something goes sour and you damage
your relationship with your family,
that's-- that's much worse.
[Sofia] How was your day today, [indistinct]?
[Jason] It's been another long day.
People have been lining up since early in the morning,
9, 9:30, for indoor and outdoor dining.
It's just been a constant flow of people coming to sympathize.
[Sally] And the line, still...?
It's still going on. It's still going-- Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're standing all day long.
- 30 pierogis, please. - When you see the mayor
tomorrow, are you gonna talk to him about what's
gonna happen with the outdoor dining?
So the scout team called.
They now want a table.
It was initially for four people.
- He's bringing 10 people. - [Tom] What?
I mean, this is amazing.
Since your dad retired, the pandemic hit,
and now there's a war.
[indistinct] We haven't even gotten to the renovation.
[Jessyka] He gets home around 10, 10:30 at night.
Sofia's already sleeping,
and I-- I barely have one eye open,
trying to stay awake, at least to say hello when
he walks in the door.
Mentally, he's there 24/7.
That can put a toll on a person.
Overall, I've spent more time here at work
than I have spent with my daughter.
So I think of this as a labor of love, a child of mine.
[Tom] He works extremely hard
and gets what this place is about.
[speaking Ukrainian]
And in a way, it's more real to him
because he's half Ukrainian.
Sometimes, you know, he starts to talk in Ukrainian,
like, a few words.
It's so funny.
Jason speak Ukrainian better than
every Russian you're gonna meet in your life.
Maybe he doesn't speak fluent,
but he understand what he's talking about.
[director] Oh, okay.
[director] I'm so sorry.
[solemn music]
[narrator] These are the signs of the times.
Daily reminders for Jason that there will be many challenges...
♪
...and long days ahead.
♪
[cuckoo calling]
Day 12 of the invasion.
[phone chiming]
And there is no letup in the Russian shelling,
despite a proposal from Moscow to create safe escape routes.
[Jason] Morning.
- How'd you sleep? - Good.
[Jessyka] These poor, innocent people, families,
were going through all this,
and for what?
For a bully who just wanted some property.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[Jessyka] No, no, no.
[Jason] It's a busy day.
We have to think of this as a war on a free world,
a democracy, and keep the pressure on our local officials
that Putin needs to be stopped.
Jason and Tom Birchard.
- How are you, Mr. Mayor? - How you doing, Tom?
No, this is Tom. I'm Jason.
This is a family business.
- That is a nice style - Very happy to have you here.
- We're father and son. - Father and son?
I thought you were gonna say brothers.
- [laughing] - That's what I thought.
Thank you so much.
New York State and New York City are the most
Ukrainian states and cities in the world.
- That's true. - We agree.
[Holubov] It is absolutely marvelous
how people are stand with Ukraine.
And not just Ukrainians.
All New Yorkers. We need you to continue that.
- Right, right. - Say that New Yorkers
- stand with Ukraine. - Right, right.
It's an atrocity what's going on there, Mr. Mayor.
I'm sure you're well aware of it.
Yes, yes, no, it is. It really is, you know?
[overlapping chatter]
Some journalists say it is a sort of indiscriminate bombing.
- No. - [Jason] It's targeted.
It's absolutely targeted and on purpose bombing
on residential areas, targeting kindergartens,
targeting hospitals, targeting other civilian objects.
They want like barbarians sit here all over Ukraine.
So we need-- we need help.
Even just so vitally needed thing like bulletproof vests
for our military.
If you give us those list of items, you know,
that are needed, we could really focus on that.
Bon appetit. Now what do you say--
- what do you say in Ukrainian? - Smachnoho.
- Smachnoho. Smachnoho.
[Adams] This is really good.
[Jason] We were rated one of the best 24 hours in the city,
but because of all the mandates and everything
that's been going on,
we haven't been able to find a proper staff.
But also, we need your commitment to help with
these outdoor seating and the outdoor...
Tell me, what needs to be done?
[chuckling] Where should I begin?
I can get you a piece of paper if you want.
- Nah, nah. - You like napkins?
What's that say?
"Lift the mandates."
[Adams chuckling]
Simple statements. [chuckles]
Obviously, that's been a big, big help,
what you're doing with that.
We gotta get crime under control, the petty crime.
- Right. - The homelessness, the EDPs.
- Right. - They run rampant
and they terrorize our customers.
It's not a good way to promote business.
- Yeah, no, well said. - And then no--
As he was eating, he was giving a thumbs up here
and a thumbs-- You know, I really don't know if he was
really paying attention to the full conversation.
Somebody in his position, I guess, has got to have
really big ears to hear everything and multitask.
- Right. - I think clearly Jason has to
be the leader at the local level to help Ukraine.
People say that this is the hardest job.
And I keep saying to myself, like,
"When does the hard part start?"
- [man] Wow. - There's not one day
that I felt overwhelmed.
I felt pain with the loss of my offices.
But this job,
this is probably one of the easiest jobs I've ever had.
- [man] Really? - Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah. - [man] Wow.
We want you to try one of these stuffed cabbages here.
- [Adams] Okay. - This is for you only.
This is for you.
- [Adams] Thank you, brother. - [Jason] Vegan, totally vegan.
[Adams] How are you, how are you?
[Vitalii] I'm maintaining.
[Adams] Good, man. Good, good.
Good, one day at a time.
Uh, well, I'm trying to do one hour at a time.
Calling my family back every minute.
[Adams] Yeah, I hope they're well, okay?
- [man] 'Cause where in Ukraine? - Kiev.
[man] Can you make touch for your family?
Every day, every hour.
[man] That is great to hear.
[speaking Ukrainian]
I know that it is not in the power of the city, of the city,
to close the skies over Ukraine.
But you can light the skies every night
with Ukrainian colors.
That's how I decided to do so.
[patriotic music]
Today we meet to raise Ukraine's flag
for the very first time here at Bowling Green.
[Adams] And today the raising of the flags represents
that we are united together.
[singing in Ukrainian]
[Jason] As this is going on now, almost a day shy of a month,
it really feels like a bad dream.
It really feels like an episode of The Twilight Zone, even.
[chanting in Ukrainian]
The tone at the restaurant, it's getting very somber.
My employees feel helpless.
But even now, even after a month of Vitalii's father
hunkered in his basement or in subway tunnels,
they tell me that we wanna come and we wanna work,
we wanna be with other Ukrainians.
[narrator] And now, they wanna tell their stories.
A few weeks into the war,
I was not sleeping, I was not eating, I was...
I couldn't live my normal life
because of things happening back home,
and I decided I wanted to go.
At that particular moment,
my dad, he asked me not to make anything stupid like that.
He said that as long as I remain over here,
my family has a chance in the future,
in the worst-case scenario.
I lived in Kiev, Ukraine, 20 years of my life,
and those were happy 20 years.
And then right after college, I decided to go to the US,
and two weeks after I landed, I started working here.
And I've been with Veselka for almost ten years.
[narrator] Vitalii has moved up through the ranks at Veselka,
from being a busboy to a waiter to a manager.
And now also my roommate.
This way? This way, please.
[Tom] He's been very frugal and has saved money,
so he made an offer on an apartment,
and it fell through for some reason.
But I told him, "You're always welcome to come live with me."
♪
[Vitalii] Over the years, I was becoming a part of the family.
Besides being my boss, Jason and Tom are my friends as well.
- How are you? - Morning. How you doing, man?
- I'm good. Good to see you. - Good to see you.
The way that they treat people personally is
a direct reflection about what makes this place so special.
- [Tom] Good to see you. - How you doing, boss?
Tom, good to see you.
[Tom] Hey, hey!
I do remember you. I remember you.
Yes, I remember you.
[Jason] I like to think of everybody as family.
Everybody has come to me and asked for advice,
asked for loans, asked for guarantees.
- How are you? - I'm okay.
I don't know how to start,
so just gonna tell you how it is.
You know that we moved parents to Poland,
and because they don't have, like, much savings,
they planning on moving back to Ukraine.
And, um, probably I'm gonna need your help
to bring my parents over here.
In the past, when you had to go through the process
of sponsoring anybody, it was a several-year process
in terms of supplying the proper documents
and, you know, getting attorneys involved.
So I heard about this program Unite for Ukraine.
So basically you need to have somebody in the United States,
like family, or you need to find a sponsor.
So we're looking to bring-- How many people to apply for?
[Dima] It's gonna be four.
It's not gonna be just Mom and Dad
because my mom and aunt, they're twins.
They're not gonna come here separately.
Remind me, where were they in Ukraine before?
My mom and dad from Nikolaev,
and my aunt and uncle, they're from Nova Kakhovka.
How far is that from Nikolaev?
Before war, it was, like, hour and a half by car.
- And now? - Eleven hours.
They pass, like, ten checkpoints.
You need to get, like, undressed.
They checking tattoos, they checking the car.
Even it was, like, two kids and three ladies in the car.
So not one, not two, but four.
- Four. - Yeah.
Now we're trying to get them here.
Please.
Let's do it.
- I love you. - I love you too, man.
Thank you.
I don't say no.
I'm a yes man.
With any key employees,
we explored getting them legalized.
One of them being Vitalii,
another being Ivan the grillman.
It's a long, tedious process of a lot of paperwork,
and it's costly.
But Mr. Jason, Mr. Tom said yes without even thinking about it,
and then Veselka sponsored me for a green card.
You know?
Hopefully my wife is not gonna be mad at me,
but he's the one who keep me here.
So, yeah. If not him, I would left.
[Jason] Dima is one of the strongest
and most resilient guys here working.
Unfortunately, because of the war, he wanted to go
very much early on and still has the desire, but...
I just feel bad because of my friends is there
and I'm here, and like most of them is in the army,
so I just don't feel okay to, like, be okay.
I think we came to a realization
that we can help the guys on the front.
Different collections,
and Dima bought, I don't know how many armor plates
that were hand-carried to the front.
We're saving lives from here as best as we can.
[tender music]
We've invited you here today to spend a couple of hours with us
on a bike ride to show solidarity
with the struggling and suffering people of Ukraine.
[speaking Ukrainian]
♪
[cheering, applause]
♪
[narrator] As the 12-mile ride wraps up,
the annual Ukrainian festival is starting two blocks south.
[woman] Oh, here's Veselka!
[narrator] A reminder of the traditions
at the heart of this shrinking little Ukrainian community.
This is my best bud. We need to get him a hot dog.
You'd like a hot dog?
[Tom] That's actually a parówka.
We get it from the Ukrainian butcher.
- It's really good. - Vitalii! Hi, roomie!
He's busy, he's busy.
[laughing]
[narrator] For Vitalii, the event is a reminder of home.
[jaunty music]
While he puts on a good face
- for his surrogate family... - Very good.
[narrator] ...his biological one...
- If I earned this, so did you. - ...is still a world away.
All three of you, smile!
[line ringing]
[speaking Ukrainian]
[Vitalii]
[Jason] When the war began, the process of sponsoring anybody,
it was a multi-year process.
What's happening now with uniting for Ukraine,
everything was done online very quickly.
Somebody could be here as quick as a month.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[narrator] Such is the case for Dima,
reunited with his mother, his aunt,
his father, and his uncle in just under a month.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[Jason] So some of the idea of the new space,
this wall gets broken down,
because what's gonna happen, the office is gonna
- move over there. - Oh. Oh!
[Arnie] In 1980, I was doing some creative sign work
around the East Village when Tom Birchard said,
"I could use a sign."
So when I came over to check out the space,
I knew immediately I didn't wanna do a sign.
I wanted to do a mural.
And it's still out there.
Over the next 40 years,
I've painted probably 15 different murals here.
It's been sort of a quirky,
East Village, iconic element of the restaurant
that make Veselka what it is.
It's been fascinating, also,
to watch Charnick's development.
[dragon snarls]
Tom was great, because pretty much anything
I kind of wanted to come up with, he said,
yeah, just do it, do it.
It became my showcase.
♪ Shake it up baby, twist and shout ♪
He's kind of a funny kind of hustler kind of guy,
so he'd figure out a way for us to sell his work
so we could hire him again to paint another one. [laughs]
You're not recording what I'm saying, are you?
I'll deny all of it.
But he's still with us. He's a big ally.
[Arnie] It's gonna go just about in there like that,
at a sort of an angle.
[Jason] Why did you choose purple on the left?
How did you choose these two?
[Arnie] First of all, how dare you?
- [both laugh] - [Jason] Okay.
I'm just trying to understand your logic.
I'm kidding.
Then the war starts in Ukraine.
[melancholy music]
And I thought, wow, here's an idea.
How about I do a mural on canvas,
basically saying, "We will rise from the ashes,
and the rubble."
So I called Jason and I said, "What do you think of this?"
And right away, his passion for the Ukraine effort
was so strong, he said, "Let's do it."
[gentle music]
Okay, good, good.
You even see the way the lighting is hitting it.
- [Jason] I love it. - It's shining.
♪
My grandfather would be very proud to see this.
[gentle music]
♪
[narrator] Another day.
Back to routine.
If nothing else, for a sense of normalcy.
But today isn't any normal day.
Let's drop this down here today.
You guys are aware today is Ukrainian Independence Day?
Did you know that?
- Oh, no, I didn't. - Now you do.
[narrator] An Independence Day marked by six months of war.
[air raid siren wails]
Imagine a July Fourth in the United States
where there are no fireworks,
there are no barbecues,
and you're huddled inside your home,
with no electricity,
waiting for the air raid siren to stop.
So, I-- thank-- thank you for recognizing this day.
I mean, a lot of people-- I mean, obviously,
it's an important day in Ukraine,
but a lot of people don't know that the war is ongoing, and...
Vitalii, longtime employee, Ukrainian,
- parents are still in Kyiv. - Oh.
So.
It's heartbreaking.
The war rages, and Vitalii's parents
don't feel comfortable leaving.
He's trying his best, but he needs a boost.
[narrator] Tonight, there is a charity event at the US Open.
[Jason] Andrew!
[narrator] And they are honoring Veselka.
Thank you for coming tonight,
and being part of this special event at the US Open.
Oh, yes, I'm looking forward to that.
Oh. Me and my whole family.
- Everyone is going. - Please tell me how it is.
Unfortunately, as you know, I'm not gonna be here,
but Justin and Vitalii are gonna be our representatives.
I think they'll do their best.
And when you watch TV, do you recognize the buildings?
Not anymore.
[reporter] Did you think about going back and fighting?
Yes, but my parents insisted.
- I agree with your parents. - They made sure,
I would never go back there and fight.
- Yeah, yeah. - Because I--
if I go-- if I go back there,
worst-case scenario, they have no other options in the future.
[reporter] It can't happen. How many kids in your family?
Oh, no. No.
I'm glad to meet you,
but I hope not to see you in another six months.
- [reporter] Exactly. - You know why.
- I know why. I know why. - Thank you.
Are you feeling good about tonight?
I'm not in the best mood right now,
but I'm pretty sure I'll be in a better mood by--
by the time we get there.
You're gonna be on the court representing us,
and you'll have the opportunity to play tennis
with some of the stars, including Rafael Nadal.
So, I hope you brushed up on your game,
and are able to compete with him.
I'll get it figured out.
[Justin] I heard he's got a mean slice.
- [Jason] He's got a mean ace. - [Justin laughs]
Let's stop the traffic here.
You know, we only got a few minutes,
- so, let's take advantage of it. - I don't know if, uh...
Vitalii, I think you need a little practice.
Let's do this. Let me see that backhand.
[laughs] All right.
The net's a little bit higher.
[laughs]
[drum roll]
I don't think he's gonna--
- Oh, Justin. - [Justin] I'm not the ball boy.
- [Jason] You're ball boy. - [Justin] No, I'm not.
[Jason] I didn't say I was a pro.
All right. I think we got it.
[gentle music]
[Justin] Wow.
Feel loose?
[Nick] I was telling Justin I watched the CNBC thing.
It was really cool. With your interview about...
- Veselka, and-- - Yeah.
Yeah, I wish it never happened.
I-- I didn't care for the interview.
I just wish that it-- the whole thing never happened.
- Yeah. - You know what I'm saying?
Of course. Yeah. Absolutely.
[boy singing "Shche ne vmerla Ukraina"]
[singing in Ukrainian]
[cheering, applause]
[announcer] Slava Ukraine!
[man] Anthony?
Vitalii and Justin on the ESPN.
[Anthony] What?
[man] Yeah. Vitalii and Justin on ESPN.
ESPN, playing tennis.
Nice, bro.
Right here in New York City,
There's a restaurant in the little Ukraine neighborhood.
Veselka.
- Oh, that's cool. - Wow.
Since the beginning of the war,
when we began donating the soup proceeds,
uh, we've raised over $250,000,
which is 3,000 gallons of soup.
We feel this support every day.
I'm very thankful to the community
of Manhattan, New York.
People from other states came by.
They just want to show their support.
They want to say that they care.
I highly appreciate that.
- Thank you, Vitalii. - Thank you very much, guys.
Let's bring the players out, ready for the coin toss.
John McEnroe. Look at that.
[woman] I mean, he's so intense.
We've got a racket. You guys went with Vitalii?
Rafael Nadal.
Come on, Vitalii. Let's see what we've got.
Look, he's taking his shirt off.
Rafael, what do you think?
- [laughter] - You think he can handle you?
[laughs] Take your shirt off, V.
[applause]
- [Vitalii] What do I do now? - Huh?
- Tell me, what do I do now? - Yeah, just look at the ball.
Just hit it, yeah?
Get that ball.
[Jason] Come on, Vitalii. Aie!
[crowd roars]
- Come on. - That was close.
[woman] Oh, I'm scared for when I have to start playing.
Oh, my gosh. Okay, let's go.
Here we go.
- Just like-- woo! - [Vitalii] Yes.
- [announcer] There we go. - Here we go.
Oh, he's getting better and better.
- [announcer] Come on, Justin. - [Jason] All right.
[announcer] Here we go, let's hear it for the Veselka guys!
[crowd cheering]
Woo-hoo!
[announcer] Thank you, gentlemen.
[Vitalii] I'm not sure if I did well.
I'm glad we're giving all the support we can to Ukraine.
I'm also thankful to my Veselka family that's been
supporting me personally,
all the Ukrainian staff.
Thank you very much for all of your support.
- Thank you. - [announcer] Thank you, Vitalii.
Well done. Well said, Vitalii.
[narrator] A brief moment of joy,
and a break from the realities of this war.
Much-needed fuel for the present,
and for what's to come.
[Justin] So, it works well then, yes?
Yeah, oh, okay, that's great, yeah.
I know it's a lot bigger,
but a lot more power, too.
New ovens are good? Everything else is working okay?
[woman] Everything okay.
[Justin] Good. It's nice to actually have four working ovens
instead of two.
And they're hot.
[Jason] So, the renovation is still going as planned.
I mean, we postponed it for this-- this year.
Is there a date you'd like to commit for the closing date?
I-- I was thinking April First, but maybe...
[Justin] I'd like to do it a little sooner.
Well, I-- I really don't see March One as a--
- a-- a realistic target date. - You don't?
- [Jason] No. - Why not?
If we have all the drawings in by Jan. One,
then going out to bid in two months,
you think we can go-- get to construction?
Two to three weeks is plenty
to get a bid back, and then two weeks to mobilize.
I mean, honestly, I don't want to have to go
back through what we went through this summer.
The A.C. is just not keeping up,
and we know we're going to do this anyway.
We need to just bite the bullet, and do it.
I understood the challenge of working for family,
working myself, working for my father.
I felt things were...
uh, moving at a slower pace
than what I would've, uh, preferred.
He has a lot of my bad habits.
He does a lot of the things that I don't like about myself.
Back in the early 2000s,
we were having a discussion about something that I made
a decision on that I didn't get clearance from him,
and he made very clear to me, he says,
"Let's remember whose role was whose.
I'm Bush. You're Cheney."
["Hail to the Chief" plays]
[chuckles]
I don't-- I don't remember saying that,
but yeah, that's-- I guess that kind of summed up
the-- the relationship at that time.
Reopening won't be overnight, right?
Labor Day is the kickoff to the busy season, right?
- Yeah. Obviously. - So, obviously a little before.
But, yeah, any time sooner than that is gravy, as they say.
[Justin] Yeah. Yeah.
Maybe July 4th would be-- would be cool, but--
I don't know, I'm thinking that's-- that's--
Um...
I think he's erring on the side of caution
because the development of this project
has been years in the making.
Something that he's known every single day of his life
for many, many years is going to be, in a sense, gone.
The renovation will happen on my terms.
["Hail to the Chief" plays]
Not Justin's or anybody else's,
but-- or actually, unfortunately,
maybe it depends on the war's terms.
[hum of chatter]
I didn't think of that.
[somber music]
[reporter] The embarrassing destruction of a key bridge
linking Russia to Crimea led to an escalation
of attacks across Ukraine this week,
that have killed dozens,
and injured more than 100 others.
[narrator] In the shadow of these events,
Jason prepares for the arrival of special guests from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian National Baseball Team.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[narrator] Here in the US for a two-game charity event,
to keep American support strong.
[speaking Ukrainian]
This is a-- an honor for me to have them here.
I-- I would like them to, uh, enjoy some traditional
Ukrainian food, but I hope that they experience
some different things while they're here in New York.
[speaking Ukrainian]
Thank you.
Everyone's so quiet.
[speaking Ukrainian]
Ev-- Everybody in yellow.
Everybody in yellow? [laughs]
Actually, before we sit in a plane,
we didn't believe that we-- we would come,
because of the circumstances, because of the situation.
A lot of things were done to make it happen,
as-- as I understand.
[man] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[Vitalii] His father is fighting.
His father, and his father.
Here in the United States, there are a lot of people
who are sending money and supplies to Ukraine.
Do you see them in Ukraine?
We feel support, yeah, absolutely.
And this means that not only from the perspective of money,
of ammunition, all of that,
it's been about feeling
that, uh, you are not alone, and everybody supports you.
And so...
bringing varenyky to us in New York,
that means a lot to us.
- Thank you for that. - Thank you.
[soft hum of chatter]
Um...
oh, my friend, who's from Kyiv as well,
has a story for you.
[speaking Ukrainian]
Between the Seventh and Ninth of October,
there were some sort of competitions in Hungary,
and the Czech Republic.
[speaking Ukrainian]
So, as of seven o'clock in the morning
on the October 10th,
the delegation that was coming from Hungary
was on the way, going back to Kyiv.
And as the massive bombing started,
um, they had to stop in the middle of nowhere,
and his son, who's nine years old,
was a part of the delegation.
One day, October Ninth,
kids are playing baseball, getting honored,
and the next day they're coming back home--
back home into--
come back again into war and massive bombings.
Please express to him, I--
I need a second, sorry.
- I'm sorry. - It's all right.
[Jason] Here in America, we feel your pain.
We understand what...
I know that one day, it's--
you feel safe, and one day,
you feel like it could be your last day.
And there's-- I know it must be difficult
for all of you to be here, but trust me when I tell you,
you're a sign of hope.
By you being here shows a lot of resolve.
We-- we don't-- we don't need peace right now.
- We-- We need-- - War. Win the war.
We don't agree on peace.
So no peace, only-- only win.
[Jason] You okay?
I'm sorry.
[Jason] I know, I know.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[hum of quiet chatter]
[speaking Ukrainian]
[somber music]
- [man] Say pierogi. - [all laugh]
[Jason] Slava Ukraini!
[all shouting in Ukrainian]
And this team behind us has shown the resiliency
of what it is to continue to push forward
in spite of all that you are facing.
This is the jersey of the national team of Ukraine,
and we would like if you will sign the ball for us.
[laughs] Yes.
[coach] And we will sign the ball for you.
[narrator] The mayor's endorsement for these games
is special for the players.
Who wears 39 on the Yankees?
[all chuckle]
[narrator] They hope that it translates into a large turnout.
Thank you. You will grab my ball?
Have you got any idea of the emotion--
the emotional impact from these guys,
like, coming from where they are, to coming to here?
It must be shocking.
This is his first time in the US.
He's still a little shocked to come from the place
where there's an active war going on,
to a peaceful place like this.
It takes a moment to get used to it.
[man] One dollar! One dollar!
But he wanted to say thank you for the opportunity
to be down here at this moment.
[gentle music]
[narrator] It's game day, out in Coney Island.
[upbeat music]
I don't-- I don't want to hit the garbage thing.
I'm good here. What, are the other sides okay?
Perfect.
[narrator] Jason serves the team lunch,
to put a little pep in their step.
[Jason] We're heading out.
We've gotta go unpack for the-- for the booth.
Huh, it's pretty nice. [chuckles] A nice view.
[narrator] Now it's time to feed the fans.
- Just put it, like, over. - Mm-hmm.
Well, it looks nice.
Can-- Then we can put the-- the flowers here, maybe on top.
We're an hour away.
Borscht in the middle. Pierogis to the side.
Yes, yes. I'll just tape it to the edge.
[man] Let's go.
[narrator] The stadium seats up to 7,000.
[children laughing, screaming]
[narrator] Jason is prepared to feed a lot of mouths.
For the players, this is a chance for them
to take a break from the war and play again,
to play in a packed stadium in the U.S.
It's good for them.
I think...
both you and me are going to get lucky to see my mom
here for some time very soon.
If circumstances allow.
Is she going to feel comfortable
leaving your grandmother back home?
That's what she says.
And will your father keep an eye
or he doesn't have a relationship with her so much?
No, not too much, unfortunately.
I think these guys are eager to play.
[narrator] Baseball may be America's pastime,
but it is a universal symbol of freedom.
Your bat, lucky bat?
[narrator] Win or lose,
all proceeds will go towards rebuilding
baseball fields destroyed by the war.
During the first few months, everybody wanted to contribute,
but it's died down now, and events like this
keep it in everybody's awareness,
and we have to continue to do that.
Irela appreciates what you do,
and he wants to say thank you and give you a shirt.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[grunting] Oh, all right.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you so much.
This is worse than me playing tennis.
The pressure, the pressure.
You didn't slip, that was good.
[speaking in Ukrainian]
[cheering]
Oy, Bosha, this is quiet.
I don't know.
It's Brooklyn on Friday nights.
You got this, Ukraine, you got this!
♪
There you go, there you go!
There you go!
♪
[cheering]
Minus the first inning jitters, we're doing pretty well.
Are they feeling better?
I mean, you're giving them a little pep talk,
- tell them to keep it-- - Yeah, yeah.
- Have fun. - Yeah, that's what it's about.
♪ Let's go, Ukraine ♪
Bottom of the 7th, right? This is it.
Now batting, number 22, Paul Boyko.
Let's go, Boyko!
Ukraine, let's go!
[narrator] I feel bad for the guys, honestly,
that there wasn't a better turnout.
But in the end, they got a chance
to play baseball again, you know?
A reminder of what their country's fighting for,
why we're supporting them.
Let's go, Boyko!
[narrator] I wanted to be part of this to...
give them and my own team some hope.
♪
[announcer] NYPD took the day,
but let's give it up for Ukraine as well.
Come on, stand up and give them a round of applause.
Five, four, three,
two, one!
♪
[narrator] Tonight,
the Ukrainians took the field as free men.
They played with pride for their country, their people.
But they are not cheering or celebrating
because they know that the game is far from over.
[phone ringing]
Hello?
[Vitalii] So, my mom is coming to the U.S. this week.
She's traveling from Ukraine to Poland by bus today.
[phone ringing]
[call ending]
Any commute coming out of the Ukraine to Poland is...
It's complicated.
[phone ringing]
Hello?
[phone ringing]
Hello?
My grandmother called me three times
to check if there were any updates.
There are no updates.
What are you thinking right now?
I can't stop thinking of the story that
the baseball player told us about his kids
being stuck on the bus and not able to come back home.
And I'm very worried.
♪
[narrator] A sleepless and stressful night.
But relief comes later in the day...
Hello?
...when Vitalii's mom is able to call him from Poland.
Besides being mentally tired, I'm also physically tired.
But Jason tells me every other day, he tells me,
smile more, or just take it easier.
Yo.
Good night.
All my best to Mom.
I look forward to meeting her.
And how long are you going on vacation for?
If you allow me, I'll take off next week.
What are we going to do when Vitalii's not here
- for the week he's traveling? - Well, someone has to do
- the ordering. - Okay.
I have vast experience doing it, but never here.
- I did all the ordering-- - I know you did.
- I know. - And it closed, Gary.
Place closed.
I asked Vitalii about his mom coming, and,
you know, he keeps things close to the vest.
So when you come in tomorrow day,
your mother's going to be sleeping, right?
- Yep. - I don't know, man.
She needs to finish her work by November 15,
so she has a lot to do, so...
So I don't know. Whatever.
- I'll see you tomorrow. - All right.
- Thank you. - All right.
[speaking Ukrainian]
♪
[Vitalii] I can look like a rough person from the outside,
but I'm a very sentimental person from the inside.
I'm going to the airport to pick up my mom,
and it's going to be her first time in the U.S.
I have difficulties to...
how to express how I feel right now.
Probably smell like pierogi.
I've been there since 8 until 5, 9 hours.
The plan is for her to visit for a month,
and my mom was really nervous to leave her mom over there,
but my dad will be looking after her for some time.
My mom always said, as long as my mother stays alive,
I'm not going to move anywhere else.
And what my dad said was
something completely different, but very similar.
He said, as long as Ukraine
stays on the map of Europe as an independent country,
he said, I'm not going to move out.
If I go back home right now,
not that I don't want to, I really want to do that,
but I'm not able to leave the country, so...
I'm stuck for a certain period of time,
and the worst part about it is that
that period of time is an unknown,
and all men between the age of 18 and 60
cannot leave the country, at least these days.
♪
[phone chiming]
♪
[laughing]
[speaking Ukrainian]
♪
[speaking Ukrainian]
She said she's been counting days...
to finally come here and see me in the first place, and...
this whole thing that's been building up inside of me for--
for probably a month or so, it's gone.
We're here. She's here. We're good.
I'm feeling less tired, and I'm good to go.
I'm very excited for tomorrow.
[speaking Ukrainian]
Nice to meet you, too.
Nice to meet you.
[speaking Ukrainian]
Jason.
Justin.
Good. Good to see you.
She doesn't look like you.
Maybe that was a mistake that took place.
I think she does. I think she does.
Nice to meet you.
Thank you for having us.
Thank you for being here.
It's been a pleasure. Let's eat.
[speaking Ukrainian]
She likes that we have a lot of decorations.
Yeah, yeah.
How does it feel to have your mom here in Veselka?
I feel good. I'm finally happy.
The only thing I need to make sure we're going to try
to call our dad, my dad, every day just to cheer him up.
[speaking Ukrainian]
She said they have a lot of cats, but only one son.
And they put a lot of effort into basically raising me.
Yeah. Only child.
They invested a lot, yeah, and they really appreciate
that you taking good care of me while I decided
to leave home and come down here.
We know it's been a difficult time for you, and...
you know you can count on us as much as I can count on you.
It's become our concern for you,
for her, and we're happy that she's safe.
And if she doesn't mind, I'd like to give her a hug.
Okay.
[speaking Ukrainian]
- She said first one is free. - [laughing]
After that, it's [indistinct].
[indistinct] Thanks for everything.
- Yes. - Tom, thank you for everything.
♪
[narrator] Their journey, nine months in the making,
is worthy of all the sights and tastes...
Mmm.
[speaking Ukrainian]
...that New York City has to offer.
♪
We begin today with what appears to be the largest wave
of Russian strikes on Ukraine in weeks.
[Vitalii] Close to a month after my mum arrived,
events were taking place in Kyiv.
We have made the decision for her to stay
until my birthday, January 15th.
She spends most of her time by herself.
She still has issues speaking and understanding English.
She hasn't been comfortable leaving the house,
and she misses her mother.
She feels lonely.
So she needs to socialize.
♪
[speaking Ukrainian]
Finally, she has some sort of routine
to build her schedule around,
and I see that she's changing.
[speaking Ukrainian]
Members of Congress,
His Excellency Volodymyr Zelensky,
President of the Ukraine.
[cheering]
This struggle will define
in what world our children and grandchildren will live.
It will define whether it will be
a democracy of Ukrainians
and for Americans, for all.
May God forever bless the United States of America.
Merry Christmas and Happy Victorious New Year.
Slava Ukraina!
[speaking Ukrainian]
♪
[indistinct]
[speaking Ukrainian]
- Good, you? - Good. Another day.
[speaking Ukrainian]
- Together with kids? - Yes.
- You understand this? - Yes.
[speaking Ukrainian]
All right, she's saying she's going to cry.
My aunt and uncle, they lost the house,
like, almost, almost two weeks ago.
It was shelling of the city,
and one of the mines land on the balcony.
So, basically, the whole apartment
just destroyed and burned out.
So, yeah.
No, it's just the mortars.
How to say that correctly?
Yeah, mortars.
[Jason] Dima is so matter-of-fact.
I'm concerned about his mental health
and what's going on in his head.
But I'm doing my best
to distract him with positive stuff,
supporting his own fundraiser
to get the guys on the front tactical gear.
Thank you, Poppy.
[Jason] The war has taken on many layers,
not only the bombing and loss of life
and the destruction of infrastructure,
but I think the real toll that we don't see is
the emotional and mental toll
on families that are being separated
or displaced from each other.
Vitalii is sponsoring his mother,
who was initially going to be for a month,
has now gone much longer.
That set him off in a moment of anger against his mother.
You can talk to him more about that. I mean...
I don't think he's going to open up to that.
- [beep] - [director] I understand.
That's all I'm comfortable saying.
My mom now lives 5,000 miles away from my dad.
There was a decision that was not made by me,
but it included me, that my mom's going to stay.
I had to take a break
and process my dad being left alone.
I reacted in a weird way. I couldn't communicate with her.
I couldn't talk to her for some period of time.
Our communication was very basic.
Closer to the New Year, we had a conversation.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[Jason] So then it just became...
how do I manage my mother,
who I'm angry with, but I also want to help her.
When my parents separated,
initially it was thought it would be a short-term,
one-year separation from my mother,
but she never returned.
And then my father took full custody...
while my mother decided to do her thing.
Vitalii's part of my extended family, so...
I shared that information with him,
and we've talked that out and said, listen,
I understand it's a bad situation, but...
it's her life, and she wants to...
move on and do something different.
She has the right to.
♪
Cat.
Dog.
Hot dog.
Cheeseburger.
[both laughing]
Whether she wants to leave
or whether she wants to stay, she...
she can make a decision on her own,
and I'm going to support whatever she decides.
Home.
Democracy.
Peace.
Son.
[speaking Ukrainian]
Okay.
My mom's been here for three and a half months,
and tomorrow will mark a year since the invasion has started.
There are more questions
than answers in this story and what's going to happen.
But Veselka has become a second home
for a lot of Ukrainians now.
The flowers return.
[narrator] And when a community comes together,
there is strength in numbers.
Thank you.
- It's been a year. - It's crazy.
- You guys are doing fantastic. - Thank you, thank you.
- Beautiful work. - Thank you.
[Jason] We've always had the greatest customers, you know.
Every table tells a different story,
and today of all days, I stumbled on an incredible one.
[speaking Ukrainian]
They just arrived last night from Germany.
Where are they from in Ukraine?
Kharkiv.
Is this the first place they've been to since they--
They're going to a big surprise.
There's an American lady.
She's giving a house for them to live for free, a big house.
Is he surprised to see so much support for Ukraine here?
[speaking Ukrainian]
[imitating explosion]
[speaking Ukrainian]
Does he still have family in Ukraine?
[speaking Ukrainian]
His father was found in Russia.
They took him to Russia.
So he's still there.
[speaking Ukrainian]
He has no option to leave there, though?
Tell him I'm really sorry to hear that.
I wish...
But I'm happy to see that he's here and, you know,
with your help and...
Anytime they find themselves in New York,
please, be my guest.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[Jason] He took his children to the western part of Ukraine,
early in the war, and then found a sponsor.
They just flew last night.
This was their first meal here today,
and they're driving to Cleveland.
Yeah, it's a great story.
Jason's grandparents, who told me stories
of what they went through post-World War II,
and it was very similar to what's happening now.
[indistinct], can you give me one small knife or fork, please?
Today it's exactly one year, and...
everything's the same.
Ukraine or Ukrainian population fighting with Russia,
last 300 years, 300 years, yeah.
It's discouraging.
As a human race, what have we learned?
- We're making the same mistakes. - History repeats itself.
- The same-- - There's 14,000 refugees
since the war started that are in New York.
I know they're in different parts,
but do anyone come in here?
Actually, believe it or not, I've applied for 10 refugees
to come to New York, and all 10 have been accepted,
with a handful working here.
So it's been a great program, and I know
you had said initially that you would welcome...
New York would welcome as many as possible.
So we're very grateful for that.
[speaking Ukrainian]
[Dima] Right now my family is safe and they're here,
which is the biggest,
probably, achievement in my life,
to be the good son and take care of my family.
And everything what I have right now is because
of Veselka and Jason.
If not for this place, I don't know where I would be.
♪
[Tom] With food, you can connect anybody.
I went through a time where there were no people there,
and now to have it give back...
it's great. That's what...
that's what keeps me going.
[Jason] I think of all of you as extended family,
and I truly appreciate
everything that you guys have done this year.
We've gone through a lot, right?
It's been a difficult year, and I only hope that
we're going to have a better year ahead.
But, uh...
I just wanted to share,
I don't know when the renovation is going to happen now.
I don't think it's...
It doesn't feel right to close now.
My grandfather was part of an organization called Plast,
which was a Ukrainian scout organization.
You know, they teach language and culture,
but they also teach survival skills.
You know, how to make a fire, how to make a shelter.
When they opened this chapter here,
my grandfather was the one that said, you know what,
you're the one that's going to provide food.
Bringing Ukrainians together to keep his dream alive,
to keep Ukraine...
for Ukrainians.
You know, I often say to people,
if my father-in-law were still alive and he could see this,
he would have another heart attack.
Because this is beyond anything he ever saw
or maybe even dreamed of.
We're building this beautiful Ukrainian family
in the heart of little Ukraine, the way Volodymyr had intended.
And Jason, I'm really proud of him
the way he's taken the reins and gets what it's about.
Jason is the right leader,
the right father figure at the right time.
As long as we need to do our best to contribute and help,
I'm going to continue to do what I can.
And with your guys' help,
we're going to continue to do together.
- Of course. - Of course.
[Tom] But my father-in-law would be surprised.
I mean, I wish...
I could show him, but...
maybe he's looking down at us. I don't know.
Sometimes I feel like he is.
Like that picture there, he's looking down with his dog.
I'm like, okay, see what you started?
[narrator] There is the family that you are born into
and the family that you choose.
Volodymyr built his own rainbow.
Where family is the treasure at its end.
♪
♪ Meet me on the corner at the center of the world ♪
♪ Meet me where the towers kiss the clouds in the sky ♪
♪ Grab a table by the window, we can watch the world go by ♪
♪ Just you and I ♪
♪ A place for us is a place for all ♪
♪ A place to live anytime you fall ♪
♪ If you're ever lost and need a place to go ♪
♪ You can find some peace and quiet ♪
♪ Among a million other souls ♪
♪ Just meet me on the corner at the center of the world ♪
♪ Meet me on the corner at the center of the world ♪
♪ Just you and I ♪
[phone ringing]
[woman] I'll get it, Poppy.
Hello, this is Veselka. How may I help you?
It's Mike.
Thank you.
Hi, how are you?