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One of the rally's organizers, the Rev. Vasile Colopelnic of SS. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church, told the audience he was actually grateful for the cold that afternoon. More than 200,000 people are facing similarly freezing conditions in the city of Mariupol, where bombardments by Russian forces have left them without heat, electricity or running water for more than a week now.

"This helps us understand how it is for our people in Ukraine," he said. "It hurts all of us. This is a war against the people of the world."

The rally saw elected officials and local residents with Ukrainian heritage voice their support for the eastern European country as its invasion by Russia continues into a third week. Many observed how strong that heritage is in Cayuga County, where 2.6% of the population can trace its ancestry to Ukraine, according to U.S. Census estimates. That's the highest percentage of any county in New York.

State Sen. John Mannion noted that his neighborhood of Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, though famous for its Irish population, is also home to many proud Ukrainian families.

"We owe the people of Ukraine a great debt. They're standing up for the free world, and we must stand with them," he said to applause. "They need to hear our voices, they need to hear our prayers."

The support has already been strong in Auburn, as Cheryl Foster explained during the rally. When she organized a supply drive in the parking lot of Holy Family Church last week, she only expected to collect enough Band-Aids, socks and other critical items to send one truck to St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Syracuse. Instead, she collected enough to send five trucks. 

Foster said she organized the drive after the need for supplies in Ukraine was shared with her by a colleague at Auburn Community Hospital who has family in the country.

"The response was overwhelming and absolutely awesome. Even the people of Syracuse couldn't believe the generosity," she said. "All those donations will show Ukraine love from this community." 

Speakers Lida Buniak, of Syracuse, and Olena Vatamaniuk, of Ithaca, said Ukraine needs more forms of support as well.

Citing the civilian death toll of the invasion — at least 549 as of March 10, according to the United Nations — Buniak and Vatamaniuk called on the U.S. and NATO to impose a no-fly zone over the country. Buniak, president of the Syracuse branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, said it would "save countless innocent lives." Signs at the rally supported the move, which U.S. and NATO have rejected due to concerns it could escalate the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. Other signs called the invasion a genocide due to the number of civilian deaths.

The rally, which Colopelnic organized with support from Mannion and the city of Auburn, also included the singing of the Ukrainian national anthem, "Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia." Before the afternoon ended, the reverend's daughter, Syracuse University student Bohdana Colopelnic, shared her reflections on her heritage, as well as those of her brother, Taras Colopelnic.

"You can see what Ukraine is fighting for right here in Auburn," she said, referring to her family's 111-year-old church and the nearby Ukrainian National Club and Sicz Club. 

Bohdana Colopelnic mentioned the church's Ukrainian Heritage Festival, and the food and music it celebrates, as pieces of the legacy of Ukraine's immigrants to Auburn, particularly its northwest area, since the 1880s. Her and her brother's words then stressed the importance of keeping those traditions alive at a time when the future of Ukraine is under attack.

"Whether by blood, marriage or some other connection, many of us are Ukrainian. And by supporting Ukraine, right here and now, everyone else has become an honorary Ukrainian as well," she said. "Being Ukrainian means treasuring freedom and fighting for it until the end. To be Ukrainian means to love what's been given to you, to cherish and nurture it, and pass it down to future generations."