November 25th, 2022

Good morning all,

During our quick stay in Kharkiv, we met up with my friend Anton, who is an IT specialist turned soldier and volunteer aid worker. I was able to give him a very specific set of plate carriers for his body armor that I brought from the US.

Anton took us to the abandoned factory and to an underground shelter occupied by several refugee families from the village of Staryi Saltiv. Prior to the liberation of Kharkiv Oblast, this village was on the front, or zero line, and had been virtually destroyed. My colleague Hymie has developed a friendship with Anna, a 13-year-old girl in the shelter and our point of contact for this mission.

The shelter is like something out of a dystopian movie, pictures attached (green hut with stairs underground). But like all Ukrainians, Anna and the other residents are strong, determined, and resilient. Anna shared pictures of her village and tearfully recounted the day her grandfather was killed by the Russians. This war has aged everyone, and listening to the way she described this and her life and the war, it was as if a 30-year-old woman was talking.

We delivered more cold weather gear, laptops for the kids for school, cell phones, and a generator. As always, we were welcomed with hugs, tears, and endless thank yous. It is incredibly humbling.

Today, we moved to the city of Poltava to another shelter. This one is located in a school building and houses 70 people from the Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv regions. We delivered more aid, and I was able to pass out several of the bears. I wish I could have captured the faces of the children when I brought the bag up. Like Christmas morning when we were 7. It was priceless.

We also took stock of what more they need, and the priority is a generator to run the kitchen during the blackouts. We are trying to coordinate that now. Generators have to be sourced in Europe and brought into Ukraine.

We also met with a group of women who are starting a job training and vocational school for women in Ukraine. (Visible Women) We discussed their business plan, budget, timeline, and goals, and we will try to find resources to assist them.

The map photo attached below is a satellite photo of the power draw in Europe in the evening. Notice how dark it is here.

More to follow