His family saved a girl from Nazis. That changed this Ukrainian refugee’s ‘destiny’

Alex Bogancha lay in bed, restless as he and a friend talked on the phone about whether Russia would invade Ukraine. They had been volunteering with Ukrainian Mothers and Children Transport, which helps Ukrainian refugees come to the U.S. Candy Dawson with her husband, Greg Dawson, at Lake Lily in Maitland, Fla. “I’m a son of Holocaust survivors,” said one of the founders of the group, Michael Bazyler, a Chapman University law professor. “He’s finally here!” 1 / 2 Marina Orlovetsky, left, of Tarzana, hugs Alex Bogancha, an 18-year-old refugee from Ukraine as he arrives at Tom Bradley International Terminal in January. “We have such kind people around us.” Alex Bogancha sees his new temporary home, Michael Solomon’s guesthouse, for the first time. “It’s further redemption of everything they went through and everything the Boganchas did for them.” As for Orlovetsky, who served as the bridge between the two families, she says she “just did what every normal human being would do.” “I just want to make them feel that every good deed will be 1,000 times more when you do something good.” Greg Dawson, left, at Lake Lily in Maitland, Fla.; Alex Bogancha walks home from Santa Monica College.