<div>My name is Olena Watanabe. I am a Ukrainian-born resident of Ames, IA. This fundraiser is to help support Ukrainian refugees in our community who are being forced by the current administration to lose their work authorizations and are soon facing the inability to cover their living expenses.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Early this year, by order of the current administration, USCIS stopped processing applications for many legal immigrants, including Ukrainians who entered the US on a Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program. While all of their immigration applications are being accepted, none are being processed. <strong>Currently, many individuals face their work authorization (EAD) expiring, some as soon as April 19th. Without valid work authorization, those people cannot even extend their driver's licenses that expire concurrently with work authorisation cards. </strong>All of them have pending applications with UCSIS, some for multiple work authorization categories (such as U4U and TPS), but none are being approved. Those applications were also costly - $470 per EAD application per person. In short, the current administration made it such that people spend their limited savings on applying for status renewals and EAD, only to be left in limbo, with their only way to earn a living about to be pulled from under their feet.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Ames Interfaith Refugee Alliance (AIRA)</strong> has been helping Ukrainian refugees since 2022 by offering help with rent expenses, language classes, appointments with state and federal organizations, organization of free legal clinics, interpreting services, and, most recently, costs of legal fees for asylum filings. Many Ukrainians may qualify for asylum based on the credible fear of persecution by the Russian government on occupied territories. However, work authorizations with a pending asylum case can only be obtained 6 months after applying (and processing of those applications is currently paused as well). AIRA intends to help Ukrainian refugees who will lose their work authorizations, but its funding is depleting rapidly.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>This call is a fundraiser for AIRA. I will transmit all money collected to AIRA, who will then allocate money to Ukrainian refugees based on most need and in an equitable manner. </strong>The AIRA's treasurer's name is Diane Birt. AIRA is a registered charitable organization that helps all refugees in our community.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Here's a link to the article about the work AIRA does: <a href="https://www.amestrib.com/story/news/local/2025/02/11/over-50-ukrainian-refugees-in-ames-fear-changes-to-immigration-policy/78191849007/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://www.amestrib.com/story/news/local/2025/02/11/over-50-ukrainian-refugees-in-ames-fear-changes-to-immigration-policy/78191849007/" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.amestrib.com/story/news/local/2025/02/11/over-50-ukrainian-refugees-in-ames-fear-changes-to-immigration-policy/78191849007/</a></a>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Please help by contributing if you can and by sharing this fundraiser.
</div>

Marissa Surette

Nick Shields

Anonymous

Kathryn Brightbill

Ekaterina Gorislavsky

Josephine O'Donnell

Logan Steele

Paul Michas

Anne Beatty

Olena Watanabe

Aid for Ukrainian Refugees Facing Work Permit Loss

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Aid for Ukrainian Refugees Facing Work Permit Loss

Still $4,290 to go. Help us build momentum.