Honoring the life of Jimmy Hill
DRIGGS, Idaho (KIFI) - We are learning more about just what kind of man Jimmy Hill was.
He was killed earlier this week during a Russian attack on Ukraine.
Now, his family is looking to help others in the wake of their loss.
“He wanted to bring families with children over to Idaho,” his older sister Katya Hill said.
Jimmy traveled to Ukraine in December for his partner’s ms treatment. Ultimately, he did not make it back home, but his family is hoping his memory will live on by creating a safe haven for refugees on his property in Driggs, something that would fulfill what his sister says was one of his final wishes.
“In his messages, he was saying ‘Idaho is such a friendly place and it’s beautiful, you can go to Yellowstone National Park and go fishing, I can teach people how to trout fish,’ so he was making those kinds of plans,” Hill said.
Idaho has a longstanding refugee resettlement program in place since the mid-1970′s, then created primarily to aid those fleeing Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
According to the Idaho Office for Refugees, between 1,000 and 1,200 refugees are resettled in Idaho annually. Roughly 220 of those previously lived in Ukraine.
“I would say it hasn’t been a huge community, but it’s been a longstanding community, one that has really spanned at least the last 20 to 30 years. We had new families arriving as recently as January and February prior to the current conflict.”
Hill calls her brother a helper and said while living in Ukraine, he would speak of helping a woman and her six children by going to markets to get them food and supplies. He also worked to find safe passage to Kyiv for others.
Now, his family hopes he can be helped the way he helped others by making his dream become reality.
“He said how friendly the people are in Idaho. He said, ‘Don’t worry, they’ll be friendly, they’ll welcome you," and we want to honor that,” Hill said.
If you would like to help make Jimmy's dream come true, here's a link to the Jimmy Hill Ukraine Refugee Fund GoFundMe page.
