This campaign is to help very specific people we know that need our help. I'm now in Moldova/Romania to help on the ground and my wife is coordinating the efforts from home.
Here's what we are doing:
- Our parents escaped Ukraine first to Moldova and then to Romania. The plan is to get them to US where we can take care of them.
- My wife's sister and her nephew left their hometown for Western Ukraine. Nephew can't cross the border because of the war time restrictions for males. The plan is to help them survive in Western Ukraine where it's relatively safe now until the restriction is lifted. Available free accommodation is getting harder and harder to find as more people move. And paid accommodation is not cheap. We ideally need to be able to support them until the war ends.
- My wife's grandma also escaped with our parents and my wife's cousin is taking her by car to the border between Poland and Belarus so that her son (my wife's uncle) can meet her there and take further care of her.
- Cousin's relatives are going from Ukraine to Moldova. The plan is to meet them in Moldova and take them most likely to Israel.
- Friend who helped our parents cross the Ukrainian border had his friends & family escape to Romania without him. That's 6 people: two mothers with two kids each. Plan is to find them temporary accommodation in Romania and then get them to their friends in France and/or Spain where they can start working and provide for their children.
- Another friend had his wife and their daughter take refuge in Moldova. They are on the border now. If they make it across the border, they will need a good plan because they don't seem to have any at the moment.
We're obviously contributing thousands of dollars ourselves. But what we found is that there's always more to be done. For example, one problem is that most of these people have money. But that money is hard cash on hand, in Ukrainian currency. They either can't exchange it at all or the exchange rate is 2x or more compared to the official 1:30 USD to UAH rate. So that cash is unfortunately just a useless paper for now.
Last, but not least. Every new day we find out about someone else we know who needs our help. If we have additional funds, we can always use them to help more people.
We really appreciate your support!