June 21
In spite of ever-increasing challenges of evacuating people from danger zones, Ukrainian volunteers rescued 385 people. To date, teams that Ukraine TrustChain supports have evacuated 36,635 people.
Pavel evacuated 245 people this week, including 89 children. Nine of the people were evacuated from the occupied territories. Aside from the evacuations missions, the most dangerous mission continues to be about delivering aid to the embattled Eastern region where, despite a humanitarian catastrophe, people are too afraid to leave their shelters to evacuate. Watch this resident from Luhansk discuss the terror under which her family fled home and the grief of knowing there is nothing to which to return.
Aid, Art, and Play
One way that volunteers support and build up Ukrainian communities happens through events for children. Sometimes, you see these celebrations on our social media pages. These low-budget events are an essential part of the refugee support operations, not only to try and help children heal from the harsh realities of war, but they also provide childcare, while parents are waiting in long lines to receive aid.
Lyubov, a former realtor colleague of Dina and a refugee from Kharkiv, is now living in Krasnokutsk. The last time she was able to receive humanitarian aid there was two months ago. She is fully aware of the hardships of displacement. After learning about Dina’s organization that is receiving steady support thanks to your donations, Lyubov joined Dina’s network and organized a center for helping displaced people in Krasnokutsk.
In line with Dina’s playbook, she combined aid distribution with a children’s event. With almost no supplies but some balls, mops, sticks, and hoola hoops, these children re-experienced joy and childhood that was taken from them nearly four months ago.
Ukraine Team Milestones
Kseniia’s team has been repairing roofs of destroyed homes as well as preparing to repair a school with the Livy Bereh Project in Olyzarivka. Kseniia’s team also sourced and supplied aid for 5,000 refugees that had just arrived from Donbas.
Timur, whose team we support partially, delivered and distributed food packages to a village in the Northwest Kharkiv Oblast. To give a sense of the danger and isolation of this village, residents of this village had not, till this point, seen or received aid from Ukrainian volunteers. On the streets, they only see the military. Timur’s team had to work exceptionally quickly to distribute food, as they were told they had only two hours to get in and out of the village. Driving in and out, they heard shelling. They delivered over 300 bags of aid during these two hours.
With the second van that Ukraine TrustChain purchased for Karina’s team, they were able to evacuate 118 people from Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.
While continuing the regular operations and distribution in refugee centers in Brovary, Kryviy Rih, Natalia’s team is also redirecting the aid East, where the there is a palpable shortage of food around the active battle zones. Our deepest gratitude goes out to the selfless drivers making their way into the most dangerous places on Earth today delivering food and essential supplies.
Andriy’s team also managed to deliver aid, but only 22 people agreed to evacuate. The missions are becoming more about the psychological aspect of convincing people to go to escape danger.
Pavel Shulha was interviewed and featured on BBC Podcast Ukrainecast: Rescue Mission.
Pavel’s team delivering aid.
Fundraisers in the US
Thank you to all of our supporters who continue to hold fundraisers as well as donate to allow us to fund the heroic efforts of Ukrainian volunteers. Here are some of the creative and community-focused fundraisers for Ukraine TrustChain:
Alla Polotskaia, Karina Sagiev, and Ellie Mushinska organized an evening of music and stories with the pianist Alexander Izbitzer.
Jonnie Pekelny, Sara Frucht, and Harold Adler organized the Benefit Concert for the People of Ukraine at Art House Gallery & Cultural Center in Berkeley, CA.
Jeff Yang and In the Realm of Senses held an incredible art show and concert in Chicago’s Epiphany Center for the Arts.
Thank you to the Renaissance Fair organizers of the Philadelphia area concert event that featured music, dancing, comedy, and more.
And thank you to the Facebook fundraisers that are helping to sustain the life-saving work of our volunteers!
How to Help
Donate - The money goes directly to teams providing aid on the ground, who respond dynamically to the most urgent needs.
Fundraise - Organize fundraisers at your school, work, place of worship, with friends and family, etc.
Spread the word - Share our website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn with your friends, family, and colleagues.
Fill out this form if you’re interested in volunteering with us, and we’ll let you know when opportunities come up.
Download and print our flyer. Ask your local coffee shop if you can add it to the bulletin, or use it as part of your fundraiser.