Katya's Medicine Donation Fund

My name is Joel Wasserman. I'm a Rockville, Maryland native who moved to Kyiv in March 2018 to teach English with veterans of the Donbas war. I had built a life in Ukraine’s capital with my partner Katya Sporysh, herself a lifelong Kyivan, before we were forced by Russian aggression to move to Lviv, the country’s main western city.

The first thing Katya did the morning after arriving to safety in the Carpathian mountains after a 26-hour journey fleeing Kyiv, was to go buy medicines for her mother. She thought of all the people in the places under Russian attack who had just lost reliable access to the medications they needed. The war has wreaked havoc upon Ukraine’s medical supply chains and on peoples' access to medications to treat common ailments like hypertension, diabetes, thyroid conditions, and even everyday maladies. Within days of the war starting, Katya had gotten to work using her contacts as a business journalist to start sending medical supplies where they were needed.

At first, Katya sent packages to Kyiv Hospital #7 and the hospital in the suburb of Boyarka. These hospitals were treating wounded from places like Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, which were devastated in Russia's attempt to take the capital.

Now, with her network of volunteers, she ships one-month supplies of critical medicines like L-thyroxine, bisoprolol, metformin, albuterol, enalapril, and antibiotics to communities on the front line of Russian aggression who otherwise lack access to their medications. The majority of recipients are elderly and those with chronic conditions.

While Katya makes the very most of every dollar, euro, and hryvnia she receives, costs are rising in Ukraine, and so have humanitarian needs, now that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have liberated so many cities and villages. Katya is looking to raise more money to keep her operations going, to provide more aid to the communities she currently serves, and to be ready for more communities to be liberated. Your generous donations will make a significant difference in the lives of Ukrainians in:

Your donations go further in Ukraine because Katya hunts down the very best prices for her medicines from Ukrainian manufacturers. At the December 2022 exchange rate and prices, she can turn $10 into:

Katya assiduously documents her purchases and deliveries. She posts updates on her Facebook page, and will post them here as well. Money received from this fundraiser will be transferred to me, and then to her, in order to fund her purchases. This page will be administered from the United States.