ON THE FRONT LINES: Matthew Mateiescu, a native of West Windsor and Princeton, has spent the last 10 months delivering humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

By Anne Levin

Like many people, Matthew Mateiescu is home for the holidays, taking a break from the stress of his job. But unlike most anyone else, his work puts his life in danger — on a regular basis.

Raised in Princeton and West Windsor, Mateiescu is vice president of Medical Disaster Response Inc., an organization that delivers humanitarian aid to people in war-ravaged Ukraine. For nearly 10 months, he has been perilously close to the front line, dodging Russian attacks to deliver medical supplies to those in need.

“There are times when artillery is landing 100 yards in each direction while we’re distributing aid,” he said this week. “Sometimes we do these front line runs. We move fast.”

A graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, the 34-year-old is the son of Carmen Mateiescu, a composer, choir director of the Orthodox Transfiguration Chapel of Princeton University, and retired music professor at Westminster Choir College and Westminster Conservatory of Music.

Mateiescu’s deployment to Ukraine began two weeks after the war broke out. What was supposed to be a three-week rotation with one organization turned into a longer stay with Medical Disaster Relief, along with work for two other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

“What’s really interesting is that there is this huge network of really small organizations and individuals,” he said. “We all help each other out. All have their own specialty.”

Mateiescu is a first-generation American whose family left Romania during the era of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. “The Ukrainian struggle resonates with me and the stories I’ve heard all my life,” he said. “I think that’s part of what makes me do this.”

A professional multimedia artist as well as a rescue worker, Mateiescu’s early experiences with volunteer work were with Jersey Cares, where he worked with local nonprofits. He stayed for eight years, as a leadership coordinator and graphic designer. Eventually, it was time for a change.

“I’m pretty athletic and I like to get my hands dirty,” he said. “A veteran friend of mine put me in touch with Team Rubicon, a disaster relief organization. When I joined, there were 3,000 members. Now there are 150,000 or more, helping with hurricanes, natural disasters, and then COVID. I got involved with them doing a mix of things — first ground work, which is my favorite, but also as a documentarian. And that opened some more doors for me.”

Mateiescu became task force leader, logistics lead, and documentarian for collaborations between international NGOs, the United Nations, and local regional hospitals during a deployment on a COVID-19 critical care mission in Uganda. He served a similar role in Mozambique, assisting with helicopter evacuations for critically ill patients in remote villages in response to Hurricane Ida.

In Ukraine, Mateiescu is based in Kviv but travels all over the country. He has coordinated evacuations of passengers out of hot zones, in addition to transporting medical supplies and humanitarian aid to frontline hospitals and refugee centers, while documenting movements for several organizations.

“At this point, I’ve seen it all — some pretty rough stuff,” he said. “It’s grim. But it’s amazing how resilient the Ukrainian people are. The Russians have been hitting the power grid and infrastructure a lot. The Russians have a kind of rhythm of dropping missiles every Monday or so. Ukrainian air defense is good, so they had a pretty good attack last Monday, shooting down 37 out of 40 missiles. But they still knock out the power.”

The power outages are worst in front-line towns and cities. “A lot don’t have power for days. It’s a pretty challenging environment,” Mateiescu said. “And in the villages, the people tend to be older. We’ve done evacuations when we know there is an offensive happening. Some people want to stay because this is their life. They grow their own food, they own their land, they get water from their well. And they don’t want to leave.”

Currently visiting his family in Princeton, Mateiescu will travel to New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh to meet with current donors and reach out to potential new supporters of Medical Disaster Response. Then it’s back to the front line.

“I’ve been in these sorts of environments before, though not as crazy as this one,” he said. “I’m kind of used to the element of danger. What keeps me going is I know we’re doing good work, and there aren’t that many people as willing to go as far as we are to get goods to people. We’re going where most people don’t want to go.”

For more information, visit medicaldisasterresponse.org.