Help Evacuate My Ukrainian Family

Kate Titarenko is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hi,

My name is Kate.

I am fundraising to get my 12 family members who are currently in Ukraine out to safety. I am currently the only financial support my family in Ukraine has.

On February 24th, the Russian government attacked Ukraine and my family.

I need to evacuate at least 12 family members from Eastern Ukraine (at least from Kharkiv, Dnipro, Volnovakha, and Mariupol), including young children and elderly people. I need to evacuate them somewhere outside of Ukraine (to Poland, Moldova, or Romania), which are about 500-700 miles away, with the hope for them to return back home, to Ukraine, when peace prevails.

Most of my family is in Eastern Ukraine. I have the happiest childhood memories spending summers at my grandparents’ house in a small village in the Donetsk region (in the picture above, I am the one on the bottom left in a red hat held by my granpa). That village became practically deserted after the 2014 Ukraine crisis; most everyone moved out. During the 2014 crisis, I regularly spoke with my 9-year old nephew who taught me how he used to hide in a school bomb shelter where he became a rocket expert. In fact, my little nephew was even able to identify the types of the rockets based entirely by their sounds! It was truly frightening!

I spoke to my nephew, who is now studying at Kharkiv University. He has had to go back to a bomb shelter -- a different one this time -- the shelter at his dormitory, which has sustained damage. Most major cities in Ukraine are heavily bombed right now: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Odessa, just to name a few. Civilians are killed, housing is destroyed, lives are damaged.

As for now, we do not know what the future holds for my family and people in Ukraine. There is currently too much uncertainty. Will they have food and shelter tomorrow? Any help from anyone would be greatly and most profoundly appreciated.

Please share this post.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Kate

HOW TO HELP UKRAINE:
1. Please Donate: https://linkedinhelpukraine.carrd.co
2. Write to your US representatives: https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative

PLEASE STOP THE WAR

If you want to learn about the most current situation in Ukraine, you can read the news here: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60856533

UPDATE ON MY FAMILY :

- March 5, 2022 - Three members of my family were evacuated to Poland. They traveled for ~72 hours with a small child and without any possessions. I want to personally say "Thank you" to all Polish people for their compassion and generosity and for treating this humanitarian crisis with such kindness!
-Another family member traveled without any possessions from Kharkiv to western Ukraine.

- March 6, 2022 - We are trying to evacuate six family members from the Volnovakha area, but the situation there is extremely dangerous. The humanitarian corridor was halted due to recurred shelling. We can't reach a family member in Mariupol, but we continue trying.

- March 12, 2022 - Four family members (two children and two women) are traveling from the Volnovakha area on a train right now.
-We found a family member from Mariupol! The story is surreal: The 84-year old brother of my grandma and his family are from Mariupol; we were desperately trying to locate him. Fortunately, on February 23rd, the day before the invasion, he traveled to Kyiv by himself to reunite with his family. On February 24, the attack on Kyiv began, and he with his daughter and granddaughter had to hide in various bomb shelters until they were able to board the evacuation train to Lviv. He is a World War II survivor whom my grandma was taking care for during and after the war. We are evacuating this family of three with a Yorkie to a neighboring country right now.

Thank you to everyone for your support, care, and kindness! Thank you for saving lives and soothing the pain of my family!

My nephews' school in Volnovakha (before)