Ten Ukrainian soldiers got the true Minnesota experience on Memorial Day weekend with a pontoon ride on the lake — but what brought them to Minnesota goes beyond the boat ride.

The soldiers lost limbs while fighting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a local nonprofit, The Protez Foundation, worked to get the soldiers free high-quality prosthetics.

The nonprofit started in 2022 and has been helping Ukrainian children, civilians and soldiers who lost limbs due to the war.

The Protez Foundation says the soldiers already received their prosthetics and have been in rehab every day. Some of them will be leaving at the end of this month to go back home, while others will stick around until they are fully adjusted to their new prosthetics. 

As an added bonus, the people at Your Boat Club in White Bear Lake heard about the soldiers and wanted to give them a boat ride and a lunch date at the VFW next door.

The boat trip is part of Your Boat Club’s ongoing program called Float it Forward.

Since May 2022, The Protez Foundation has delivered more than 400 prosthetics, helping more than 200 people.