Hi, my name is Tom. My wife and I are sponsoring a mom and 2 kids from Ukraine under the Uniting for Ukraine program. Actually, we're hosting another Ukrainian as well, who speaks English fluently. 4 in total. Although they will get some federal assistance to meet some basic needs, they are eager to get independent, which means finding employment. One of the challenges of living in the suburbs is the lack of public transportation. Because of this, I'm starting a GoFundMe page to raise a little money to find them some reliable transportation. Funds were collected directly towards purchasing a used vehicle for her and her family. I have some good connections with some local dealerships, but taxes and liability concerns make it difficult for them to donate directly.

If you have a moment, read Tatyana's story below. It is heroic, courageous as well and humbling. If you feel like you wanted to help with the Ukrainian effort, and weren't sure how this might be a great opportunity to consider. Even the smallest donation will help this family get on their feet, and live the American dream. Housing, education, work and taxes!

If you're interested in knowing more about sponsoring someone from Ukraine (in-house or just the paperwork), please feel free to email me directly or check out the Uniting for Ukraine USA Facebook page. It costs nothing to sponsor someone, just your time and guidance.

Tatyana Kivolva

My family is me and my two children, son Vladimir, 16 years old and daughter Polina, 8 years old.

In Ukraine, we lived in a house, but after the divorce, my children and I left the house of my ex-husband, rented an apartment in Mykolaiv and lived there for almost 2 years until the war began. Now the roof of that house has been pierced by a rocket, there is a hole up to the seventh floor.

Leaving with two children into the unknown, it was one of the most difficult decisions in my life. Every day, until the moment we decided to leave, we hid in the basement of the school. We slept on chairs, or if we were lucky, there was a place on a bench. When the morning comes, and if it was quiet outside, we went home to wash, change clothes and have some food. We would stay at home until the shelling of the city began again.

The nights were usually always spent in the basement. If we decided to stay at home, they slept in their clothes, so that all they had to do was put on a jacket, hat, boots and run to the school basement. This was just five minutes from home. It was scary leaving, but in the basement, among the people, it was calmer.

The decision that I was leaving with the children was made after there was no strength left to endure. There was no sleep, there was no opportunity to wash, eat normally, all the time there was a regime that at any second you would need to get up and run. I started looking for options to leave, but it was not easy. Trips were canceled one by one, there were many attempts. I decided to make a post on Facebook with a request to help me and my children leave, in any direction, it didn’t matter where.

And one of my friends saw my post and helped us get out of Mykolaiv. We were taken from the basement in the evening to a safer area, where at that time it was calm, and the next morning we drove towards Western Ukraine and then to Poland. I didn’t have a car, but there was a man who saved us. We went with him, his wife and daughter to a city outside of Lviv in Ternopil. There were a lot of problems with getting bus tickets to Poland, but we succeeded by the grace of God. We just had to stay one night in Ternopil. In the morning, we took the bus to the Medyka border crossing we had to wait for hours to be processed. Thanks to all the volunteers at the border crossing! A Polish family that hosted Ukrainians offered to host us, and we found our temporary home here in Ujanowice. But this can only be temporary. Our journey must continue. We want to move to America, try to develop ourselves there, while there is a war in our native country. I want to find a job there as soon as possible and become independent, I'm sure everything will work out. Only forward!