UPDATES ON NORMAL UEC KYIV OUTREACH

01/21/2024 Thanks to you, since the brutal war in Ukraine began, you’ve given $227,306.54 to relief efforts. In 2023, you helped 989 people receive food and other supports. Most of the funds went for food purchases to families displaced or dramatically impacted by the war and related inflation. Other funds were used to send small cash grants (usually $50 per family a few times each year) and distributed through a network of people we have known for many years. We also helped with van repairs for a group delivering humanitarian aid and supported a a foster family/group home caring for more than 20 orphans who have been forced to leave their home which is very close to the current war front. We will continue in 2024 as funds become available. Thank you for helping families caught in this horrible terrorism of the Russian Federation.

7/14/2023 Thanks to your generosity, we have been able to send funds to several refugees displaced by the war including two families now living in Poland. We have sent small cash grants to others and have made a summer distribution of funds to retired people particularly affected by the inflation caused by the war. They barely survive under normal conditions; the war has exacerbated the challenges of making it on very small, fixed incomes. Because of YOU, we can continue to provide aid.

6/13/2023 We continue to send funds to our partners in Zhytomyr region for food distribution and small cash gifts to retired people particularly impacted by inflation. We support a refugee in Poland in an extreme situation with a special needs child. We provided some funding for those evacuating from the recently flooded Kherson area. Thank you.

4/16/2023 You continue to give and we continue to send. You’ve send funds to a Ukrainian refugee in Poland with a special needs child. You provided funds for a generator for a church serving people near the front lines, within miles of the fighting. You helped repair a transport van used to deliver humanitarian aid to those severely impacted by the war. We sent funds to Ukrainians displaced to Europe and even though they could have used those funds for their own needs, they send the funds to friends and family who were in greater need. THANK YOU!

3/1/2023 Again, you provided! With our partner organization in Zhytomyr, you made possible 235 borsch kits for families suffering from inflation, unpaid wages, lost jobs, and the trauma of living through war. So many families were overjoyed to have everything they needed to make several meals for their families!

2/22/2023 Thanks to your generosity, we continue to help Ukrainian families impacted by this savage war. It’s been almost a year, and many are still in shock it’s even happening. Thank you for standing with Ukrainian families. This week, we sent funds to Ukrainian refugees who are trying to rebuild their lives in Switzerland. And they are helping others there. We also sent funds to 20 retired people who have been severely impacted by war inflation and are barely surviving. We continue to work with our partner in Zhytomyr to provide food to internally displaced people and families with special needs children. Pray for peace.

2/14/2023 We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thanks to you, we have funds again and have created several allocations of those funds: monthly funds for pensioners, support for displaced families, village food distribution, and an emergency fund for needs that arise among our network. Thank you for continuing these relief efforts!

1/1/2023 Happy New Year!

З новим роком!

Between Christmas and New Year, thanks to your generosity, we sent $3,000 to our partner in Zhytomyr who will supply food packets to 120 very low income families including many internally displaced and families with special needs children. We also provided emergency support to a special needs family pictured here. Sadly the Russians attacked Ukraine just minutes into the New Year. But thank you for bringing some relief into this terrible war.
You’ve given $205,073. Thank you for entrusting us with these funds to make life better.

12/27/2022 Thank you so much to everyone giving as the year ends. Your gifts will help Ukrainian families well into 2023. Our focus is food assistance, seniors/pensioners who have very limited incomes, and families with special needs children. Their lives were already extremely difficult; the war has amplified those challenges in ways we can’t even imagine. Help us continue to bring relief in 2023.

12/17/2022 We are working to help families stay warm this winter. With the barrage of Russian missile attacks, there are substantial electric and heating outages all over Ukraine. So far, you’ve funded two generators and a wood burning stove. We are working with another family to acquire a generator.

12/15/2022 Today we sent funds to a retired person living on a very small income. Funds were also sent to help a group of volunteers bake meat rolls (piroshki) for those at the front. We also sent funds to the family caring for 15 foster children.

12/6/2022 It’s been several months since we posted here. We have spent most of the funds we’ve received, but obviously, the war continues and need persists. We have sent funds to help families buy generators, to distribute food to vulnerable older people and families with special needs children. We have also sent support to many retired people who live on tiny pensions and are dramatically impacted by war inflation. We also continue to partner with and provide funding for the family caring for many foster children. Thank you.

7/31/2022 We are raising funds to help a group home of orphans find a place to live this winter. They’ve had to flee because their home was so close to the Russian front and constant shelling. The government is now letting them live in an abandoned kindergarten but it has no heat. Will you help us find adequate housing for this family so the children can start school on September 1 and they will know they are safe and won’t have to keep moving?

7/17/2022 Sadly, Putin continues the senseless war in Ukraine. Though US media coverage is less, every day civilians are killed in missile attacks across Ukraine. Over 200 places of learning like kindergartens, schools, and universities have been bombed. We have continued funding individual needs mainly in Ukraine. You’ve helped replaced a rook on a home once under Russian occupation near Kyiv. You’ve been buying gas to help a Zhytomyr nonprofit pick up humanitarian aid from Western Europe. That simple gift had resulted in hundreds receiving vital supplies.

5/3/2022 We’ve sent funds to a feeding site in the Transcarpathian region that came under missile attack this week for the first time since the war began. We also supplied funds to a family that has been selflessly serving others and had never requested anything for themselves. Additionally, we provided funds for food to a Ukrainian refugee family that made it to the UK but has yet to start receiving assistance there. We also supplied resources to someone serving in the Kyiv suburbs that were recently liberated from Russian occupation.

4/27/2022 You’ve generously given over $152,000! Thank you, friends, for making life a little better for Ukrainians suffering from this horrible war. We’ve sent funds to families in Kyiv today as well as another round of funding for the feeding site at a Zhytomyr school. They continue to feed 300 civil defense members everyday. The labor is volunteer-driven and you are making funds available to feed those serving their city. We’ve also been focused on helping several families find sponsors for the humanitarian parole program offered by the US government. Possibly soon some Ukrainian families will find protection in the USA.

4/24/2022 Ukraine celebrated Easter on Sunday and sadly last week Odesa was bombed. We were able to meet several needs. We paid for gas for an ambulance evacuating a severely wounded soldiers in Chernihiv needed to receive care in Sweden. Thanks to you, funds were transferred to several people who currently have no income and their towns have been shelled.

4/20/2022 While most of Ukraine will celebrate Easter this coming Sunday, in some regions the Catholic/Protestant date is observed. In Zhytomyr you helped bring some Easter celebration to Ukrainians in their town’s civil defense. Today we sent funds to our partner who is finding pediatric diabetic medicines and supplies for families from the Darnitsiya Medical Clinic on the left bank of Kyiv. This partner is doing a great job resourcing these families with supplies and medicines to take care of their medically fragile and complex children. How hard it must be on parents to care for special needs children during this maddening war.

4/17/2022 Happy Easter! Humanitarian aid has begun arriving in Ukraine. While bulk shipments of humanitarian aid are needed when war disrupts normal supply chains and people don’t have normal sources of income, there are also significant problems with bulk shipments in a war zone. One issue is that when shipments come from abroad and contain foreign products, locals don’t know what the products are or how to use them. Also, sadly, sometimes aid shipments can contain out-of-date or broken items that are more of a burden than a help. We have received multiple reports of large aid shipments arriving in a Ukrainian city but no further means to distribute the aid cities directly impacted by bombing. Thus, aid ends up in places where it is often least needed. Your gifts have been helping Ukrainian volunteer crews buy very expensive gas (equivalent of $12 a gallon), go get the aid, and take it to places the large shipments can’t make it to…..here’s a message we received from our friends in Cherkassy who take aid to Kharkhiv: “Сьогодні Саша із братами двома бусами відвезли більше 1 тонн гуманітарної допомоги в Харків, а звідти евакуювали 10 людей. Слава Богу, за пожертвувані вами кошти оплатили пальне.” Translation: Today Sasha (of the brothers) hauled 1 ton of humanitarian aid to Kharkhiv and were able to evacuate 10 people. Praise God that from your donations we were able to buy the gasoline.

4/16/2022 We finally figured out how to send funds to an elderly woman and her son who are not able to evacuate from Kyiv. Thankfully, missile attacks to Kyiv have decreased but not all. The Ukrainian banking system has proven resilient which has meant it’s been possible to provide direct aid to families in need. Most have a debit card connected to a bank account, and thanks to technology we can transfer funds directly to their card. They then can buy what they need in stores, pay their bills, etc. The cards often work in Europe as well. We have used 8 companies/paths to transfer funds and each platform comes with limits and bureaucratic challenges. Thanks to our partners in the USA, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, and Slovakia, the funds have been able to go to Ukrainians in Holland, Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Spain, and 24 cities in Ukraine.

4/14/2022 Yesterday we sent funds to a young man who is an orphan. He lost his job because of the war but had found another one. He would month’s wages and the government is not able to provide much assistance because everything is going to the defense of the nation. So we were thrilled to be connected to him through an old friend. He had only asked for $100, but we made sure to send enough to make it through some hard times. We also sent funds to a refugee family that made it to Holland. Many Ukrainians are spreading throughout Europe where housing is more available as Europeans are doing what they can to help with this massive humanitarian crisis. You’ve given $142,000 to bring light to over 900 Ukrainians. Thank you.

4/12/2022 Life’s challenges do not stop because of war. Today we supported two families that have fled to Poland with severely ill children. One faces cancer, another a long-term severe disability. These families are now struggling to feed their families and face extreme medical conditions. One family was going to the train station each day to eat at an impromptu soup kitchen Poles had established. They were bringing their immuno-compromised child there each day to eat. Thanks to you, they now have money to buy food while they wait to move yet again to the UK where there is hope of adequate medical care. Another child has to be hospitalized and the mother needs funds to pay for food and her stay while in the hospital with her child.

4/9/2022 We connected with some Ukrainian refugees (a family my wife and I have known for over 20 years) in Sweden today and were able to send them some funds for living expenses. Through those refugees we were able to send funds to a family sheltering in place in eastern Ukraine very close to the Russian war machine. In some places in Europe, refugees are beginning to receive cash assistance, but each country and even sometimes each region within a country are administering the assistance differently. Many have yet to receive any direct assistance.

4/8/2022 Today we sent funds to a daughter and elderly mother who have fled their home that was being shelled near the Russian border. They are now safe near the Polish border on the complete opposite side of the country. They don’t have any income and aren’t sure how they will survive. We’ve sent enough funds to make sure they are OK for awhile. There are countless families like this one.

I want to commend our volunteer team that continues to provide aid. Several of those involved are refugees themselves. They have fled, found safety in Poland, Switzerland, and Slovakia, and are now trying to help others even as they face great uncertainty.

4/6/2022 You are so generous! You’ve given over $130,000 to help Ukrainian families. We’ve sent funds to benefit almost 1,000 Ukrainians in 7 countries and over 20 cities in Ukraine. Today funds were sent to a very brave person who is finding medicines for a parent group who have children that require daily insulin. They have complex medical needs and the way they used to receive care ended just after the war began. Thankfully they keep finding insulin sources and are so grateful they have the funds to pay for it during this senseless and brutal war.

4/5/2022 These texts below are from some of the people we have served and from those in our partners network who helping administer this relief fund. Three families in our network are refugees themselves and are now in three countries outside Ukraine. But they still want to help and make life better for their neighbors and friends. Their work has been invaluable in getting resources quickly to Ukrainian families.

4/3/2022 92.5% of the $126,352 you’ve given has been disbursed or allocated. In the last few days funds have gone to several cities in Ukraine and to refugees who are trying to survive outside Ukraine. One family you helped is typical of hundreds of thousands of others. The mom, grandmother, and a child have fled Kyiv and are renting temporary space in a city, Vynnitsia, outside Kyiv. To get to safety, the mother had to quit her job. The father serves in Kyiv’s civil defense. But the mom is not receiving wages, extra expenses are being incurred, and the father is also not able to work his normal job. This story is played out literally millions of times.

We are so deeply saddened by the horrors being revealed in towns recently liberated from Russian occupation. These towns are Kyiv’s suburbs. If you don’t know what I’m describing, be careful because the images, if you see them, will not leave you. Ukrainians are fighting for their very survival. The Terror Famine/Holodomor of the 1920s killed millions of Ukrainians. Millions more suffered in WWII.

3/31/2022 Just a note to say we sent funds to several families today including a family with a cancer patient. They are having to do the chemotherapy treatments at home sometimes because access to doctors is limited. Thank you for making life better for 828 Ukrainians. You’ve given $125,007 and 90.93% of those funds have been disbursed or allocated for short-term needs over the next two months.

3/28/2022 We’ve funded today a Ukrainian who suffers from diabetes and needs medication. Her city is surrounded by Russian troops and under regular shelling. They are working hard to find the medicine and now they don’t have to worry about how to pay for it. Yesterday we set funds to four families in three different cities, all of who are suffering from the effects of this maddening war. Many people are now losing their jobs, and the government has not yet paid retired people their meager pensions. We have sent funds to several retired people. Our fund is now over $110,000 and 91% of the funds are disbursed or allocated.

3/26/2022 For several days we’ve been trying to help a parent group who collectively has 20 medically-complex children in need of insulin. Before, the government provided but that system has mostly collapsed. Our partners located in Switzerland, Denver, Texas, Tennessee, and Ukraine worked together to find enough insulin for two weeks for the children with the hopes of a longer-term solution. $35 pays for the medical needs of one child a week. If you want to help, donate above.

3/22/2022 Many transfers went out today to support 44 Ukrainians. They are refugees in the Netherlands and Switzerland. Europe is overwhelmed with the flow of over 3 million people in 3 weeks. And while refugees wait for systems to be built and assistance to become available they are running out of the money they brought with them. We are sending funds directly to families so they can buy food, medicine, and other essentials as the system becomes more developed. We sent funds to a mother caring for a child on the autism spectrum and many other challenging situations. Funds were also sent to a group of parents who are desperately trying to find insulin for their children. They can’t find it in Kyiv and a friend is looking in other parts of Ukraine and planning to bring the insulin to them. We also supplied funds to buy gas so a truck can pick up a large load of supplies donated by an international company. They won’t deliver though so groups have to drive their and pick up the food. Some very brave people we will be driving that truck. We also provided funds to help a family evacuate from Kyiv. They have a small child with cancer and had been reluctant to leave. They now realize it’s time.

3/21/2022 We’ve now sent funds to Ukrainian families in Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Moldova, and Germany in 17 cities and villages. 647 people are blessed because of your generosity. Today we sent funds to a large Ukrainian family who had fled to Moldova and funds to a Ukrainian family in Germany. The mother has cancer, and they are in an extremely difficult situation.

3/20/2022 We sent funds to a group of parents who are trying to buy insulin for their children. They remain in Kyiv and are working so hard to find insulin. We have helped connect them to some possible leads, but they will need the funds to buy it when it’s found. Imagine facing this situation. War is such an ugly thing.

3/17/2022 We provided funds to a family in Zhytomir who are hosting now a family of refugees from Crimea. They have fled the peninsula that was invaded in 2014, but the war created circumstances in which they were not safe there. You are providing food, medicine, and supplies for them. We also sent funds to a family who fled bombing. They ended up at the Polish border and were told to get on a bus. They only had the clothes on their backs—literally—and so they got on a bus. They were taken to Germany where they know no one and have no money. They can use their Ukrainian bank card in stores there, so we sent funds to them to buy food and clothes. We also contacted a friend in Germany who will hopefully connect them to resources that are becoming available for refugees in Germany.

3/16/2022 Today we provided funds to six families in Lubny, a small town in central Ukraine. They were thrilled to receive the assistance to buy food and medicine.

3/15/2022 11:08 CST We are so saddened by all this madness in Ukraine. Kyiv is coming under heavy shelling. You’ve seen the devastation in other cities on the news. Over 150 of you have given $67,000 to provide direct relief to Ukrainian families. Thank you. Today we provide gas money to a family fleeing one of the Kyiv suburbs coming under heavy fighting. They fled to Kyiv. We sent funds to two families in Kyiv who can’t leave. The children and some adults have gone to a village outside Kyiv for protection. They can’t work and now have no income. Most Ukrainians don’t have a lot in savings. Thank you for buying them food and medicine. We’ve spent or allocated 87% of the funds we have on hand. We have made six-week commitments to several situations and three feeding sites. This war, sadly, isn’t going to end anytime soon it appears. So we want to stand with those partners and know that they can rely on funding for the short-term at least.

3/15/2022 Funds today were sent for food and medicine for 16 refugees who arrived in a small village. Bucha is a Kyiv suburb where intense fighting has nearly razed the town to the ground. We also provided assistance to a church leader who had fled to Cherkassy in central Ukraine and had been using their very limited resources to help others. Funds over the weekend were sent to refugees arriving in Poland, our friend in Kyiv who continues to help those around her, and we continue to provide assist to those in western Ukraine who are displaced from their homes.

Yesterday a partner took a dangerous 2.5 hour road trip to buy food for several families. Gas cost the equivalent of $11.83 a gallon.

3/11/2022-3/12/2022 We continue to provide funding to individuals within our extensive network who remain inside Ukraine and have not been able to leave. We funded gasoline and car repairs for a family trying to get to the Polish border. You helped a mother who had just fled an abusive relationship flee her city with her children. You helped another family in Lviv trying to get to the border with Poland. We sent funds to a group led by local teachers; they are feeding 300 people a day who are helping to defend Zhytomir from raiders. You provided funds to families in Rivne, Cherkassy, Zhytomyr, and Liviv who have yet to be able to evacuate. You continue to supply funds to our contact in Kyiv who is helping people in her area; she may have to flee soon as the attack on Kyiv seems to be ramping up again sadly.

3/10/2022 Your gifts have provided food, shelter, medicine and other assistance for 131 people in 3 countries. Thank you! We just sent funds to a family in Kyiv who can’t evacuate or go to bomb shelters because their child is receiving cancer treatments. The funds will be used to continue to purchase the cancer treatments and help the family during this nightmare.

3/8/2022 UPDATED 8:15PM CST Today our network confirmed partnership with a family serving displaced people and orphans in the Zakarpatiya region in western Ukraine. This region is on the other side of the Carpathian Mountains and close to NATO nations. It’s probably one of the best places the Ukrainian government could have moved orphans. It’s highly unlikely Russian troops will bomb so close to NATO countries and very difficult for Putin’s army to cross the mountains. We are funding a family there who has been housing displaced people, and they are trying to bring extra supplies to a relocated orphanage. Thank you, friends! We’ve raised over $40,000 for humanitarian relief. Today we are sending funds to a Ukrainian mom who has a child with severe special needs; they made it to Poland by pure miracle. Her husband is a firefighter who remains in Ukraine, and he sent all the money they had with his wife to care for their children. We are helping the mom secure medicines and other essentials and also making funds available so the father won’t have to worry about food and bills while he’s putting out fires. We also sent additional funds to the village in Zhytomyr region since we have wonderful partners there who are trying to help so many.

3/7/2022 We are working with partners in Lviv to support a transitional living space as Ukrainians flee to western Ukraine where there is much less bombing and shelling. Funds are being used to provide sleeping space, food, and to meet other needs for those who have fled. We also sent funds to a family with several children who are staying in Slovakia now as they figure out their next steps. As the ware rages, your gifts are now at work in Slovakia near the Ukrainian border, in Poland near a border crossing, in Kyiv, in a small village in Zhytomyr region, in Lviv in western Ukraine, and in helping several individual families.

3/6/2022 Funds were sent to a small village in Ukraine to buy vegetables, sugar, tea, water, and coffee for members of the village’s civil defense group. Funds will also be used to buy food for five families with small children. Villagers had given the families potatoes but there wasn’t money for anything else. So our funds are being used to buy whatever is available in the area. Food is extremely scarce. They fear a Russian attack is imminent and they are preparing for it. Funds were also made available to our directors in Slovakia who are serving Ukrainian refugees as they cross the border.

 3/5/2022 Funds were sent to repair a Ukrainian family’s car that broke down just across the Polish border. They were able to get on their way to a Polish family who will house them. Funds were also released to help two Ukrainian women fleeing Kyiv.

3/4/2022 Funds sent to a Ukrainian village in Zhytomyr region for food and medicine for elderly and food for those who have volunteered to defend the village. Funds were also sent to our contacts on the Polish border to provide direct assistance to refugees as they cross into Poland and then transit away.

3/3/2022 Funds sent to Kyiv to a dear friend who remains behind to help older Ukrainians who are unable to evacuate. Food and medicine are being bought.

You helped provide chickens to over 100 families suffering from the war.