Fall 2026 Lectures
Jim Young presents:
"Convoy4Ukraine: A Columbian's Mission to the Front"
Wednesday, September 30
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
The Palmetto Club: 1231 Sumter St. Columbia, SC 29201
Description:
Jim Young traveled to Ukraine last February as one of only two Americans participating in an aid mission sponsored by a private British charity called Convoy4Ukraine. The charity organized 42 volunteers into teams of two to drive 21 pickup trucks and SUVs across northern Europe to Ukraine. They delivered medical equipment and supplies to civilian and military units across the country, coming within 60 miles of the front lines. Along the way, they also dropped off the vehicles themselves! This effort began immediately after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, born of a private individual’s moral outrage over the injustice of the attack.
After retiring from a long and varied career, including 10 years with Spartanburg, S.C.-based Tandematic, a worldwide exporter of proprietary textile machinery, Jim Young returned to school this fall at the age of 67 to pursue a master’s degree in history at the University of South Carolina. He continues to serve as a volunteer commissioner on Richland County Conservation Commission. Jim’s career included 19 years as a Montessori teacher and administrator, but he started out in journalism. He ended up as a business reporter at The State under the editorship of none other than Fred Monk! Jim holds a bachelor’s degree in Slavic Languages and Literature (Russian Studies) from the University of Virginia, which makes the situation in Ukraine hit him particularly hard.
Visit our Palmetto Forum Archive to learn more about previous Palmetto Forums that the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies has offered.