Dec 15, 2022 |
As you know, winter has come to Ukraine. Russia continues its merciless bombing of Ukraine’s power system. On December 7, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned of a “apocalypse” for the Ukrainian this winter. He added that Kyiv, along with most of our country might lose power, water, and heat. One way or another, everyone in Ukraine is now at risk. They need our help more than ever!
To meet the growing needs of the Ukrainian people we urgently need to raise $800,000 in the next 30 days. To help reach this goal, a generous donor has offered a $400,000 matching gift challenge and will match your donation, dollar for dollar. Money raised from this Lifesaving Matching Gift Challenge will be used for two fundamental purposes:
- to help Ukrainians survive the brutal winter that is upon them
- to help support a growing number of orphans.
Support received through this matching gift challenge will allow us to provide evacuation vehicles, generators, wood stoves, power stations, sleeping bags, winter parkas, pants, winter suits, hats, gloves and thermal underwear to those in need.
Additionally, Assist Ukraine will support the growing number of orphans by:
- providing clothes, bedding, and generators for the orphanage this winter and continued support for the future and
- providing opportunities for children aging-out of the orphanages to continue their education.
- expanding to a new orphanage. Assist Ukraine has been invited to partner with a French group in building a new facility to care for up to 500 children. Please invest in the future of these deserving children today.
Nov 8, 2022 |
Ukrainians are facing a brutal winter. They need our help more than ever!
The orphanage Assist Ukraine helped start in western Ukraine is now home to more than 100 children. They urgently need winter clothing, more blankets, and an electrical generating system. Immediate Financial Need: $30,000.
We are sourcing high-end winter survival coats, pants, boots and gloves that our partners in Ukraine get to people on the front and in areas recently recaptured. November financial need: $80,000.
Our help is needed more than ever. We are still operating with zero overhead. Please help as much as you can. Your donation through our website may be tax deductible through our sister nonprofit, Families Assisting Families.
Nov 4, 2022 |
Ukrainians are facing a brutal winter. The orphanage Assist-Ukraine helped start in western Ukraine is now home to more than 100 children. They urgently need winter clothing, more blankets, and an electrical generating system. Immediate Financial Need: $30,000.
We are sourcing high-end winter survival coats, pants, boots and gloves that our partners in Ukraine get to people on the front and in areas recently recaptured. November financial need: $80,000.
Our help is needed more than ever. We are still operating with zero overhead. Please help as much as you can. We encourage you to consult your tax accountant regarding tax deductible events.
In October, Assist-Ukraine delivered much needed radios, protective vests, helmets, headlamps, and surveillance drones, as well as winter survival gear and wood burning stoves for people in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine. We also purchased a 4×4 off road winter rescue vehicle for our partner who has rescued many people over the past 8 months.
Sadly, we were asked to provide 300 body bags. We also helped save numerous lives. Your help is making a difference! Please, help us meet our immediate critical financial needs by donating today.
May 3, 2022 |
The Orphanage
5/3/2022
51 children whose orphanage was destroyed by Russian forces attacking Kharkiv have found a safe, new home in a bucolic village in the west of Ukraine near the Romanian border, The children, who had been in state care because of abusive family situations, range in age from 1 to 16.
This is all thanks to a businessman called George Arveladze and his wife Anastasia who have in a matter of weeks located an empty state-owned building, and quickly refurbished it enough to receive the first group of children (see the photos below). Their next goal is to expand it as fast as possible, with our help, to accept and house another 100 children who have been orphaned by the war.
And it doesn’t stop there. They have ideas about how to make this children’s home better than it ever was, creating educational opportunities these kids would never had access to in Kharkiv. They need to raise funds to feed and house the children and pay for staff, but they hope for more, despite or because of the war. They want these children and those war orphans who follow to have a real future
George immediately managed to engage one of the older boys who was drifting into drugs. He didn’t smile. but it was clear he was passionate about a sport called “Parkour”, a combination off running, jumping, and climbing to overcome obstacles while building strength and endurance. George suggested that he develop his love of this sport to one day create a business but he warned him that would mean he had to learn math. If he worked at it George said he would back him. That suddenly made sense and this 16 year-old now has a goal beyond a goal post.
All the children at the orphanage are extremely well cared for but the staff, as in all childrens’ homes in this part of world, is overwhelmingly female so there are no male role models. One exception to that is Joe Davidson, the son of Art, one of our founders, He has been helping to rehabilitate the facility and has provided a piano so music now fills the rooms as children take lessons from a local teacher, Joe is also a mean soccer player. ”They love taking me to play, One boy David comes to my room to make sure I go with them. We walk on a small road with quaint houses on either side, There is a group of geese we pass every day Most homes have a garden with flowers and vegetables and a yard filled with chickens, goats and horses. Some people pass by on a horse-drawn wagon, I’ve been getting some of the boys to juggle the soccer ball and count how many they get in English. I have to say it’s easy to forget about the war out here.” The war, however, is never far away. Some children are so traumatized by what they have gone through they don’t speak. Joe hears sobs and crying at night.
The next phase will be even more challenging as the orphanage takes in children whose parents have been killed in this war. The need for more staff and psychiatric care will grow.
