I'm sorry that I'm late this week, but I hope that this raffle will make up for it.

Updates

Your friends in the 79th got their electric scooter and sent a nice video thanking you.

The 37th really appreciates their generator.

A Starlink made the 214th happy.

Remember the 17th Special Purpose Center? They thank you for their new laptop.

$2 TACO Tuesday

Both packs this week come to you courtesy of my friends in Ukraine. They sent me home last month with Ukrainian things they hope you will like.

The star of this show is a 30cm/12" painted wood charcuterie board. It is painted, as Robin informs me, in the Petrykivka style. My friends in Khmelnytskyi bought this for you, along with this 11cm 3D commemorative plate and a 3D Ukraine fridge magnet. Not to be out-done, my longtime friend in Kharkiv supplied you with a pair of Kharkiv postcards, a Kharkiv magnet, and a Snake Island shopping bag.

$5 Mug pack

If this one doesn't stir your feelings, I will be shocked. The mug was handmade by Pottery in the Dark, a pottery studio taught by a Ukrainian veteran, Ivan Shostak, who was blinded in the war (article here). The studio teaches pottery to other blinded Ukrainian veterans. (sorry for the photo and creases - the flyer traveled with me thousands of miles)

Olena is my friend in Kharkiv, and is a veteran, too. Olena contacted Ivan to buy a mug specifically for our raffle here, but when he heard about UFL's mission, he donated this mug. Unbelievably, I managed to bring this heartbreaking piece out of Ukraine and across Western Europe, all the way back to the USA, without breaking it!

Back to the $5 pack...Olena also supplied me with patches from two Kharkiv units; the 225th and the 92nd. (Fun fact: she grew up looking at the training grounds of the 92nd, and she took me to there last year!) And finally, Olena got for us a really cool drone "medallion" on a lanyard and a laser-cut steel drone keychain.

In fact, write a message to Olena with your ticket and she will forward them to Ivan and Olena's mother, who works as a military nurse in Kharkiv!

In closing:

I really don't have anything pithy or interesting to say this week, so I will leave you with a picture I took last month of the beautiful of St. George's Cathedral in Lviv.

No matter how bleak, depressing, or hopeless life may seem, there is always beauty around you if you but look.

-Scott

Don't forget:

Givebutter may limit ticket purchases to 10 at a time, but as many of you know, you can always buy additional ticket packs without limit.

UFL has amazing art here if you haven't seen it yet!

And please note that although the event description mentions a livestream, there will be none. And while we do deeply appreciate those of you who choose to donate as well as buying raffle tickets, we want to make it clear that donations are not required to enter the raffle.

19 May UFL raffle

A special raffle brought to you by Ukrainians themselves