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Utah business gives the gift of power to Ukrainians

Posted at 5:47 PM, Apr 01, 2022
and last updated 2022-04-01 20:01:48-04

AMERICAN FORK, Utah — A Utah business owner is stepping up and providing one of the greatest needs in Ukraine right now — light.

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The donation means so much to a local woman who has family living in bomb shelters in Kyiv without power or light.

Soldiers are currently lining the streets where Svitlana Miller grew up .

"It’s always been a really beautiful city, so it’s hard to see the streets destroyed and the buildings gone,” said Miller who came to Utah for school when she was 17.

While safe in the U.S., Miller's family remains in Ukraine.

“We’ve been trying to call my dad, we lost touch when the war started," shared Miller. "We don’t know where he is but that doesn’t necessarily mean the worst. There are a lot of people lost right now.”

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With their streets and towns destroyed, many have lost power in country and have no light and no way to charge their devices. It’s one of the reasons Frank Davis realized he could help.

“I said, give me a wish list what do you need besides, you know… and it came out that they need portable power," said Davis.

Davis is the founder and CEO of Lion Energy in American Fork, a company specializes in energy storage systems.

“For a bunker the size of half a football field, you could string these lights up and have the necessary power for communication and lights,” Davis said.

Lion Energy is sending three different products that are all powered by solar energy, with the battery technology in the systems able charge everything once, and it will stay charged for a year.

“If anybody has gone through a power outage and experienced being in the dark. It’s debilitating, and if you can imagine these people being in a bunker, day and night without lights, I can’t even fathom what it’s like emotionally, mentally to deal with that. Giving them light is more than physical light, it enlightens their life and gives them hope,” said Davis.

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Miller is grateful for the gift of power of light and the hope of connection.

“At this point they have no way of reaching out to their families. If they could just have power to charge up their phones. The internet is there and they could connect and let us know what’s going on.”

The need for power is so great in Ukraine right now, that the government reached out to Davis and his team. Officials with Ukraine are picking up the portable power on Saturday and flying it home to their people.