Vincent Rees has been involved in the Ukrainian community in many ways his entire life. Beginning with his passion for Ukrainian dance, he performed with the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers for many years before becoming a teacher, choreographer, and director.

After completing an undergrad in Ukrainian Language and Literature and a Masters in Ukrainian Folklore, he was perfectly suited to begin sharing his passion with others and began leading group tours to Ukraine with the innovative travel company, Cobblestone Freeway Tours, whose mission is to “Share Ukraine with the World”.

The Cobblestone Freeway Foundation (CFF) was originally set up to support cultural heritage projects related to sustainable cultural tourism in Ukraine and elsewhere. However, with the onset of the war on Ukraine, CFF quickly shifted gears to support those in need in Ukraine.

The first initiative was to support those connected with the cultural tourism industry and their families. This was at the bequest of the many people who had travelled with Cobblestone Freeway Tours to Ukraine and cared greatly for the Cobblestone team and the others they met along the way. Many of these families had young children, and while the men stayed behind, the women and children fled to Europe or North America.

Since then, the scope of CFF has grown to also include assisting the many refugees throughout Western Ukraine, who in many cases are also doing their part to assist with a large variety of humanitarian efforts.

As of Fall 2022, CFF has:

• Sent almost $100,000 to individuals, families, single mothers, schools, and other organizations. CFF provided food, supplies, medicine, and clothing to children relocated from Bila Tserkave to Lviv from the School of the Deaf.
• Assisted people in the village of Tulova and town of Kosiv with feeding, housing, clothing, and caring for the flood of refugees, along with making food deliveries to soldiers on the front.
• Ensured the safety of several pregnant women who fled Kharkiv and other areas, providing them with housing, medical support, food, and clothing for both themselves and their babies. All are healthy and cared for in Lviv.
• Provided food to pediatric cancer patients from hospitals in Kramatorsk and Kharkiv that had arrived in Lviv in desperate need of healthy food.

Finally, with Vincent’s passion for Ukrainian culture, CFF aids artists, performers, and others in the cultural industries who are out of work and trying to survive and feed their families.