Help Yulia's family and friends

Hi all, I am Yulia. I am Ukrainian. I have been living in USA for almost 15 years (mostly in Louisiana). Even though I have American citizenship, which I value and respect a lot, I consider and will always consider myself as Ukrainian. These days I am devastated. Devastated about what Russia is doing to my country, how it is trying to completely destroy it, physically and emotionally, how it is trying to take our future, freedom, and democracy away from us.

For the first few weeks of these events, I was in a state of complete shock and disbelief. I was not able to do anything, I was just existing. I thought it was just a nightmare, and I would wake up and things would be normal again. But, unfortunately, this is reality, a horrible reality that my country, myself, and millions of Ukrainians are learning how to live through.

A lot of you have been extremely supportive, compassionate, and empathetic. I truly appreciate all of your prayers, calls, and messages. A lot of you have asked as well “how can I help? What can I do?” I didn’t even want to think about it, hoping that this war would stop in a couple of days, that the nightmare would be over soon. But I was wrong. Realizing, how many people want to help, I came up with the following plan.

I would like to dedicate half of donations to my family. My parents are doing fine for now, at least physically. They have made a decision to stay in Ukraine no matter what. They will never ask me for help but I know that they are not working now and who knows when they will resume their jobs. We were able to convince my sister to leave the country with her baby (who is 3 years old). She is currently in Germany, away from her husband, and doing ok. At least her and her baby are safe. I would love to help her out as well. The future is very uncertain, for both my country and my family and only God knows when these horrible days will be over with.

The other half of donations I would like to give to my dad, who will help our neighbors, family friends or refugees in our town, Lutsk. Every day they welcome up to 10 000 refugees who are either staying in Lutsk permanently or temporary and then move on to Poland, Germany etc. A lot of them have paperwork and minimum belongings with them only. Others Iive in conditions that could definitely be better (no refrigerator, washer / dryer) etc.

Thank you so much for your support, your nice words, encouragement, and compassion. Hopefully, brighter days are coming.

LONG LIVE UKRAINE!!