Olga Sorzano — the owner of Baba’s Brew, a kombucha brewery in Phoenixville — flew to the Ukraine-Poland border last month to volunteer with the World Central Kitchen, writes Laura Brzyski for Philadelphia magazine. 

Sorzano, who was born in Russia, held a fundraiser in March at Baba’s Brew that raised $12,000 in two weeks for United Help Ukraine.

Later, she discovered on Facebook that fellow chef Michael Strauss, from Passyunk, was in Poland with the World Central Kitchen, a meal-providing organization started in 2010 after an earthquake in Haiti. 

She joined Strauss at the Poland-Ukraine border from March 14-22. She worked in the kitchen, helped travelers at the border, and collected and distributed supplies for a tent that aided mothers and babies — doing anything to bring relief. 

“With all the bad things happening in the world, it’s easy to jump from news story to news story and sort of move on from them,” said Sorzano. “But it’s important to see images and hear stories, so we don’t forget or stop caring about this war and the people it’s impacting. We can’t let that happen.”

Read more about Olga Sorzano in Philadelphia magazine.