Area man returns from Ukraine to start new life with new wife

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

All is fair for Kendall Nolt, who is back home after more than a year of globetrotting experiences with love and war.

Nolt, a Charles City area native, has spent the better part of the year helping evacuate and support the people of war-torn Ukraine as part of Plain Compassion Crisis Response, a volunteer organization that deploys teams offering humanitarian aid in emergency situations around the world.

Joining the organization in 2021, Nolt’s first operation was responding to last year’s earthquake in Haiti, serving on a medical team to render aid to the injured. After returning home, Nolt took part in some additional training and had barely settled in before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

“By the next afternoon I was on the way to Ukraine,” said Nolt.

Flying into Hungary, the relief team crossed the border into Ukraine and helped civilians evacuate the war zone. After five days in Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine, the team moved deeper into the country to Rivne. There, they coordinated with a local church, which connected them with English speaking translators, including “Lucy” Ivaneko.

“She was with us pretty much right from the start,” said Nolt.

Ivaneko herself was no stranger to global aid. Before the war she had spent eight months in Uganda on a mission and had only recently returned home after contracting malaria and typhoid. Having just recovered from her illness when the war started, she jumped at the opportunity to join the relief team.

“I just wanted to do something,” said Lucy. “I was glad it gave me a chance to do something in the country and help the people.”

For the first few months of the war, Nolt and Ivaneko didn’t think much of each other nor work all that closely. It wasn’t until after Nolt returned to Ukraine in July of 2022 after a brief respite in the States that they began to see each other differently.

“I started liking him and eventually it grew into something bigger,” said Lucy.

“From there it was a fast process,” said Nolt.

Love blossomed on the battlefield as the couple continued to help refugees escape the country and provide aid to those determined to stay. On Nov. 5, 2022, amidst power outages and under the threat of an invasion by Belarus, Nolt and Ivaneko got married.

“We decided to go through with it,” said Nolt. “It’s been a real blessing.”

By January of 2022, the Nolts’ mission in Ukraine had pretty much wrapped up as the immediate crisis has shifted into a new status quo. Nolt stayed with Plain Compassion Crisis Response for a while longer, working with the international response to the February Turkey-Syria Earthquakes, but has now resigned from the organization and, as of April 19, has returned to Iowa for good to start the next chapter of his life.

“We’re just trying to get into the swing of living a life,” said Nolt.

Nolt said he is looking forward to getting back to work as an EMT while his wife acclimates to her new home.

“I like Iowa,” said Lucy. “I like the people here. They’re all friendly.”

Having faced the Russian army, the Nolts must now overcome the United States immigration system. Lucy is currently in the country on a tourist visa and is in the process of applying for a green card. She hopes to be able to return to Ukraine to visit her family next spring.