TAMPA, Fla. — Project DYNAMO is a nonprofit group that has gone to places like Afghanistan, Ukraine and Israel to rescue Americans who can’t make their way back home.
The group’s co-founder, Bryan Stern, says the donor-funded veteran-led group has rescued 6,800 people from across the world over the past 25 months.
“There are Americans who are in captivity right now,” Stern said. “We will come for you. We will not leave our people behind.”
At a fundraising gala called “Red, White, and Rescued,” a former hostage saved by the group says every donation to Project DYNAMO makes a difference.
“They made it clear they didn’t want me alive,” former hostage Kirillo Alexandrov said of the Russian militants who kidnapped him. “It was really implied that your life was coming to an end.”
Alexandrov says he was living in Ukraine with family when he was taken from his home and held for weeks.
“The Russians broke into my house, I was in the shower, they dragged me out,” he said. “They took me to prison…I was stuck there. They do a lot of terrible things to me, they do terrible things to my family…no one was really fighting for me except for Bryan.”
Stern and his team were able to rescue Alexandrov and get him to safety. Stern says they have completed more than 600 operations.
Adam Kavanaugh’s pregnant daughter-in-law and grandchild were saved when they got stuck in Ukraine after the invasion and couldn’t get help.
“We just didn’t know what to do, and if there hadn’t been Project DYNAMO, I don’t know what we would have done at all,” Kavanaugh said.
On Thursday night, the group held their fundraising gala in hopes of saving even more Americans who are trapped in war zones that range from Ukraine to the Middle East. Survivors like Alexandrov say every penny counts.
“If it weren’t for the donations or everyday people, I’d probably still be over there, or more likely dead,” he said.
To learn more about Project DYNAMO, click here.