A year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a Chicago commercial real estate broker with no ties to the country is raising funds to bring with him to help Ukrainian citizens when he returns to the war zone late this spring.

After raising $17,000 from friends, family and real estate clients to bring with him on his trip last year, Chris Rogala seeks to boost that total to a combined $50,000 as he plans a second expedition to volunteer with U.K.-based charity Siobhan’s Trust.

Rogala plans to match up to $5,000 of donations he receives and once again will pay his own travel expenses.

As he plans the second voyage in June, Rogala said he also hopes to help keep the world’s attention on Ukraine’s plight as the conflict drags into its second year. Russia launched its invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

“I want to do this because I don’t want people to get complacent,” Rogala said. “The war has been going on for a year. It drives me crazy that people could get used to it or jaded by it. I’m willing to give $5,000 of my own money because everything is not OK.”

Despite some encouraging news regarding the war and the recent surprise visit to Ukraine by President Joe Biden, the situation there remains dire, Rogala said.

“Ukraine is winning the war. Great,” he said. “But that shouldn’t make people think everything is hunky-dory. People are dying every day.”

Rogala, president of boutique office and retail brokerage Office Space Chicago, has applied to his real estate career the same determination he has shown while aiding Ukraine. The former FedEx driver now negotiates lease terms for clients that have included some of the country’s largest occupiers of space.

During three decades in commercial real estate that started at Cushman & Wakefield, Rogala, 55, has used his tenacity to weather boom and bust cycles and has represented the likes of Facebook, Google and Oracle in office leases.

He's gained experience in launching efforts such as the personal fundraiser he started for Ukraine by founding his Office Space Chicago brokerage in 2012.

As he marshals resources for his June trip, he is accepting donations for the people of Ukraine through a page on his firm’s website.

Rogala has no connections to Ukraine. But after month of listening to National Public Radio report on the invasion, Rogala felt his anger building toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Like a lot of people, I couldn’t believe this was happening and that one man could make all this horrible stuff happen,” Rogala said. “I was listening to NPR in the car, and it made me more and more angry. I thought about what I could do.”

In March 2022, he already had been planning a trip to London when Rogala added a connecting flight to Krakow, Poland. After landing there, he drove to a tent city in Medyka, Poland, along the Ukrainian border, where volunteer efforts still were taking root, he said.

He joined up with Siobhan’s Trust, which was distributing food and supplies to refugees walking across the border into Poland. With Ukrainian grocery stores picked over, Rogala and other volunteers began driving hours into Poland to gather groceries, toiletries, clothing and other items from markets.

After using donated money to fill their trunks, volunteers drove back to unload in the tent city.

“A lot of people didn’t want the help,” Rogala said. “They had too much pride. I was doing goofy things like getting down on my knees and saying, ‘Please.’ A smile would break out on their face, and they would accept some food. We didn’t have the same language, but we made it work.”

During his first trip Rogala only spent one of 10 days inside Ukraine. But he said things will be different on his return trip that will be to one of three cities in Ukraine.

Rogala said he will decide among Kyiv, Kharkiv or Zaporizhzhia.

“Every penny that I bring with me will go directly to the people,” Rogala said. “I’m literally buying apples that someone will eat, a jacket that will keep someone warm or a toy for a kid who doesn’t have anything to play with after his home was bombed out.“