Good afternoon everyone. This is United Ukraine co-founder Adam with your mid-week update on where your donations have helped the most. Since our last update, we’ve distributed an additional $4,162.72 to community leaders and families inside Ukraine. It’s also a milestone week for United Ukraine, as total donations have just surpassed $100,000 - a number that was truly unthinkable when Nathan and I started all of this. To date your donations have (among other things):
Helped relocate more than 100 families to safety;
Fed and supported more than 1,000 additional families through the distribution centers we help fund;
Resupplied critical medical equipment in Ukraine’s biggest cities; and
Gotten help to places no one else can reach - Ukraine’s smallest villages and hardest hit cities. That includes this week’s delivery runs to schools and community centers in Borodyanka - where hundreds of citizens are simply missing following a brutal Russian occupation.
It’s something to be proud of. You all are part of something special, and it helps people every day.
Of course there’s more. We’ve continued our work locating and providing support to refugees from Mariupol. This remains a high priority not just because of the damage the city has sustained over the last several weeks, but also because many of these families need to escape into Western Ukraine as quickly as possible to avoid Russian “filtration camps” that have been set up around the city.
This week we made contact with Valeria and Edward, who narrowly escaped a Russian sweep team in their neighborhood. They still think of Mariupol as home, and held out hope they’d have a place to return to - until they saw their apartment building featured on a Mariupol-centric telegram channel. They’re staying positive, and swear they’ll rebuild.
Other Mariupol families are spontaneously creating shared communities; pooling together resources to help each other. Your support has helped Ukrainians help each other - paying for repairs and fuel for the Chechikovs this week, who in turn shared a vehicle on difficult roads for three days with the Levchenko family while they traveled to shelter.
Oksana in Krivy Rog opened her home and her heart to four different families from Mariupol. They’ve been supporting themselves doing odd jobs that they can find around town while they attempt to build new lives. You helped Oksana outfit her home with enough bedding that everyone can get a good night’s rest.
And families now seem to be competing for who can send us the cutest children we’ve gotten to safety; including our latest newborn - Eliza.
Other projects you’ve funded are also starting to pay off with our community leader partners. Last month, United Ukraine purchased defibrillators in coordination with Irina, our contact in Kharkiv. That lifesaving equipment is currently being distributed and installed in high traffic areas. And Anna in Nikolaev reports that electric power banks sourced from Germany have just been delivered and are already in use by the territorial defense trying to repair the local water system.
Your donations fund all of this. It’s support for people who need it. And it gives Anna a reason to smile every time she takes delivery of the latest shipment of supplies.
It’s not just that she got this delivery, it’s that she knows it’s not the last one. We’re in this with her until the end. And we hope that you’re in it with us too. If you’d like to keep supporting this work, these are best ways:
Via Debit, Credit, or Paypal: At this link
Via Venmo: @UnitedUkraine (under the business tab)
Our Website: http://www.united-ukraine.org
And we accept checks via mail at:
225 Bright Poppy
Irvine, CA 92618
As always, every penny you give helps a real person inside Ukraine. Nathan and I take no salary and we personally pay all transfer fees, taxes, and duties. We do this because we know this work matters, and we appreciate that your support matters most of all. No one gives to a charity because they’re excited to pay overhead and administrative costs. So we make sure you never do. It’s truly an honor that you give us this opportunity to help a country and a people that we love. Ukraine is a magical place. It’s my favorite place. I can’t wait to go back and help rebuild. I hope to see some of you there.
-Adam 💙💛