Donations with Heart
Also a cute dog
Hello, this is United Ukraine co-founder Nathan with an end-of-week update. Since the last update we’ve sent out $2,421.66 to Ukrainian families and grass-roots service providers.
First, I’ll start out with a personal note. I’m wass interviewed for Ukrainian TV yesterday. You might think it was because I’m part of an organization that has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in support for Ukraine, but you’d be wrong. It was about my famous dog.
My dog, Misha, was lost in a war zone during the battle for Kyiv and due the efforts of many Ukrainians she was brought home safe (she’s with me in Argentina now). They wanted to talk to me because they wanted to do a story about how people decided to act during the war and in the discussion two things came up.
First, of the chain of people that helped get Misha to safety two went on to form active non-profits to help in the war (United Ukraine and Ukrainian Patriot) and one was already the founder of a Ukrainian animal rescue charity (Transform a Street Dog). So I joked that she was adjacent to probably close to a million dollars in money coming into Ukraine that Ukrainians had stray dogs with more influence on the war than some Russian military units.
Second, the interviewer seemed the most moved was when I described the broad network of support that made United Ukraine possible and compared it to the broad base of support that made Misha’s rescue possible. The host clearly became emotional when I described how our partners in Ukraine were connected to people all of the world: Lawyers in California, teachers in Poland, Tango dancers in Seattle and on and on.
So please know, that your support goes not just to the families that directly receive it but also the Ukrainians that are heartened to hear about what you’re doing and feel supported by a global community.
What Ukrainians did your donations support this week?
This is Olya and her two kids from Mariupol. Her family is still in the almost totally razed city of Mariupol. They couldn't leave the city without having her husband sent through a “Russian filtration facility” so they hunkered down during the worst of the bombing campaign. A Russian filtration camp is where Ukrainians are inspected for potential loyalty to Ukraine. Their windows had been completely destroyed by bombing. With winter approaching we got them money to replace their windows so they can make it through the next phase of the war.
And here is long-time partner Vlad delivering a drone, a vehicle and other crucial supplies to Vitalii Kim, head of administration on the Mykolaiv front. An incredible success.
Thank you again, very much. We’re continuing to work on new ways to create direct links between people to allow Ukrainians to persevere through unthinkable circumstances. A big thanks from Adam, myself and of course Misha too.