Helping my Ukrainian Family

Hi Everyone,

JOHN? How do you have a "Ukrainian Family"? Most of you know me as the Marine whose been blessed to travel the world flying drones. On one of these occasions, I was privileged to serve with an international organization named the OSCE. We were the "third party" responsible for trying to keep the peace in Ukraine before Russia's full-scale invasion. I worked in Ukraine for over two years, where I naturally met some amazing Ukrainians. When you spend so much time away from your own family, as I do, you sometimes become adopted by a family from the country that you're working in. Being adopted has never been intentional for me but rather very accidental. You work with a friend, they introduce you to their family and boom, you're adopted. Next thing you know, you're being invited to weddings, birthdays and Sunday dinners. It's one of my favorite parts about working abroad. Anyways...when I was working in Ukraine, Simon helped me translate some documents which I needed help with. I asked Simon if he could help me out translating, from time to time for a small fee, and he agreed. Of course, his parents were wondering who this American guy was and had asked to meet me. The rest is history. My Ukrainian family has been so close to my heart for many reasons ever since. The cover photo was taken about one month after my father passed away. Today, I have learned to deal with death a lot better but back then my first reaction after my fathers passing was to runaway from everything that reminded me of my father. So, without hesitation, I hopped on a flight to Kramatorsk, Ukraine where I spent the next few months with my Ukrainian family. They will never know how indebted I am to them. Ofcourse fast-forwarding to today, things have become incredibly dire for Simon and my Ukrainian family. Currently, Simons family is having to survive with just 140 dollars a month and under constant shelling and bombardment. I speak to Simon daily and it takes everything out of me not to throw on my old uniforms and join the Ukrainian Defense Force. Simon and family have just moved from Kramatorsk to Kyiv where they are staying in an abandoned apartment. Just this move alone costs them close to 170 dollars. I am trying my best to support my Ukrainian family in any way that I can. I've never done a gofundme before and thought maybe with all my international friends, we could all pitch in a few dollars and make a real difference in their current situation. If you've gotten this far in my story, I just wanted to thank you in advance for atleast taking the time to read my story. All donations will be sent to Simon via PayPal. No donation is too small.