Hey all, it’s Eli. As many of you might remember, we had a very successful fundraising campaign at the beginning of the war, as my family was evacuating Ukraine, to help our friends and family in need. We were able to help so many people either evacuate to safety or have the money to cover their basic needs during those first few weeks of the war and beyond by wiring them money directly to their bank cards.

We are starting a small campaign again after our neighbors (from the small town where we have a cottage) reached out to us recently. The father, Oleg, had his vehicle shot to pieces while driving in the village one day while trying to help another family evacuate and was lucky to escape alive after fleeing to a nearby forest. His car was essential to his job and so, on top of everything else, he lost his job. A few months ago he was drafted into the Ukrainian army.

He now serves in the mechanized Infantry Corps of the Ukrainian ground forces. His brigade is in need of a vehicle to transport the wounded from the field mobile hospitals to the regular medical facilities for further treatment. They are asking for $5000 but may need even more, in our opinion, to purchase a van like the one pictured above.

This is the first time that they have ever asked us for anything. In the past, we have just had to insist (against their protests) that we were going to send them a little money to help them out and to thank them for looking after our small cottage. I think they are only doing so now because it is for others, and not just for themselves. In other words, for them to ask us for this means that they are desperate and that the situation is dire.

Oleg has helped us out numerous times with rides, work in the yard and on our fence and gate, pouring the concrete for the sidewalk and slab, and looking after our cottage. His wife, Tanya, works at the local preschool and they have a young son, Yaroslav, that was Jack’s good friend.

Please consider helping out Oleg’s brigade and the wounded in Ukraine. It would mean so much to us and to this sweet family. Click on the link below to give.

Hope all of you are well.

Peace and Love,

Eli, Galie, and Jack