My husband, teen daughter, and I have dedicated our summer to helping out in Poland. We showed up not really knowing what we were going to do. I had tried for the past 3 months to connect with NGOs or even private citizens to see what was needed but had very little luck.
We really showed up in Krakow three days ago mostly blind. It’s been a whirlind since then! A friend of ours lives here in Krakow and he knew where a refugee shelter was so we wandered in it to ask a few questions and wound up working all day.
We were also put in touch with Team Krakow.
They are a very small group, one couple, in fact, of private citizens organizing weekly shipments over the border into Ukraine. Their driver is amazing. He is doing a very risky job. He’s driving way into Ukraine, some weeks all the way to the front lines to deliver much needed supplies to the Ukrainians remaining in country. The circled area is where he is now. The red is the front lines.
They have medical supplies, military supplies, diapers, clothing, food, and more.
All products sent are donations. They come in from all over the world and sometimes they evey have cute children’s drawings like this one to accompany them.
In order to maximize space they need to open every package, take everything out of its original box, then re-pack it into as tight a space as possible. That’s what we did yesterday. We spend our day helping out at the warehouse.
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21PrBLKRQic
They have also facilitated evacuations of people wanting to leave Ukraine. They told us a story about how their driver brought out a 73 year olf woman and her 93 year old mother recently who had been living in a basement for the past three months.
We have decided there is plenty of work for us to do right here in Krakow for the next month so we have decided to settle here. I booked an AirBnB for a month and this is where we’ll be.
If you’d like to help, especially if you’re one of those people that’s changed your profile pic to the Ukrainian flag, well, here’s your chance. I have a GoFundMe set up or you can send money direct to my Venmo @TravelTeachRead. None of the money is for my personal use. I don’t need your money. I will give every penny of it to help where I see fit. I am here. I am on the ground.
I’ll give you an example of how money is needed: those transports? The shipments of goods to villagers in Ukraine? The gas alone costs $500 USD per trip and they’re sending a load per week. Or, the army needs Celox bandages and those are $35 a pop and one time use.
It’s not all doom and gloom and work. We have to keep our minds fit also. Here’s dinner and even ice cream after. I don’t allow sweets often so this was a big deal.
