Help for our extended community in Ukraine

Mischa and I are fundraising for our extended relatives and community that are stuck in Ukraine, as well as the communities that they themselves are in.

Hi, I’m Albert Rose, a Senior at Sacred Heart Prep. The situation in Ukraine is worsening day after day, and the people left are finding it more and more difficult to survive. I have 13 family members and other close family friends currently living in Ukraine with whom my mother and I are trying our best to stay in contact. Most of them are stuck on the outskirts of Kiev, with others constantly relocating due to the fighting. Almost all of my relatives’ houses and bomb shelters nearby have been surrounded by Russian troops, preventing them from leaving. Many of them have had to purposefully flee to larger Ukrainian cities under Russian control just to escape the bombing, as it has moved from big to smaller cities on the outskirts. As time goes on, everyone there is put into more and more danger as the Russians expand their area of control, and the shelling moves to more discreet locations that are used for hiding civilians. My nephew, aunt, and cousins have been in contact with us the most, and they have been providing us with constant updates on their situation and needs. Of the many problems they have mentioned, the largest one is, not surprisingly, a lack of money. My mom is fortunate enough to be very close friends with the Secretary to Ukraine’s Minister of Finance, Nadia Chagarnaiy, providing a helpful connection to the most effective ways to get the money to our family members and their extended community.

I am Mischa Chaikovsky, a Junior at Sacred Heart Preparatory. In World War II, my grandparents clung onto their parents as they ran in fear, fleeing Stalin’s advance on Ukraine. They fled a Ukraine being abused by the Soviet Union, abandoning their home for a better life in America. Though now happy here in California, my grandparents have to face a second war that is destroying their homeland as Putin invades and kills innocent civilians. Along with my grandparents, I am tied to Ukraine through family that still lives there, like my aunt, Alexandra Tymoshenko. Alexandra and her mother have luckily made it to Poland, and now to Denver, but her sister has only managed to make it out of Kiev and she is hiding out in a village outside the capital. We have not been able to make contact with our family members there, only receiving sparse information on their circumstances. And terrifyingly, just as Stalin killed many Ukrainians in the past, Putin’s war has already cost the lives of thousands of civilians. As explained by Albert, this money will help our extended Sacred Heart community and fellow Ukrainian’s who have to experience war and the possibility of death every day. Thank you for your consideration, anything and all is appreciated.

Our goal is to raise $10,000, all the money donated will go directly to supporting our family stuck in Ukraine. If we make any amount of money over this goal, we will donate the rest to Nova Ukraine. This charity was started by a group of Ukrainians in December of 2013, is near and dear to our very own Ms. Rench, and they have devoted themselves to raising awareness about Ukraine’s situation and providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine.Thank you, https://novaukraine.org/

The photo pictured above shows Albert's cousins stuck in Kyiv.

These photos show the reality of the situation that Ukrainians are living in, and have been sent to us by family members.