Hi - my name is Jessica Bleyzer, and I need your help to support a dear friend and colleague, Vitalii Komarevtsev, who was recently diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Vitalii is a Ukrainian citizen and the Executive Director of For a Peaceful Sky, a Ukrainian nonprofit that has been one of our greatest partners over the past two years. On a recent fundraising trip to California, Vitalii began to feel unwell. During an emergency room visit, doctors diagnosed him with pancreatic cancer and then immediately admitted him into the oncology ward. Only 38 years old, Vitalii is a husband and father of two young children who has dedicated the past few years of his life to helping his fellow Ukrainians in need.

Soon after the devastation in Bucha was made known, Vitalii organized a group of volunteers to go with him to patch up destroyed homes for the town’s surviving families. Within weeks, he became the Executive Director of the then newly formed Ukrainian nonprofit, For a Peaceful Sky, where he has scaled such charitable reconstruction work to include close to 150 volunteers, who have repaired over 2,500 homes (and counting) across the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. In addition, Vitalii has managed the sourcing and delivery of over 180 tons of food and personal hygiene products to Ukraine’s hardest hit regions; oversaw the charitable renovation of the Kherson Children’s Hospital; and continues to work tirelessly to support Ukrainians in need however he can.

Here, I can only begin to touch on the incredible work Vitalii has done for Ukraine, and now, I ask for your help to honor and support Vitalii during his own time of need. As Vitalii begins treatment at Stanford Hospital, the medical expenses alone would be untenable; but having heard his story, the doctors and hospital administrators are working on his behalf to secure at least some financial aid to cover his treatment. Therefore, in the short term, Vitalii told me he has two main concerns: covering the cost of lodging near the hospital for his wife and two children, and ensuring that his charitable work can continue back in Ukraine.

If you knew Vitalii as I do, it would not surprise you to hear that in one of his first calls to me from the hospital, despite being in significant pain, he was completely focused on figuring out how to get a recently purchased non-military drone to Ukraine (should he ship it, or did I know someone in California that could take it with them in their suitcase on their next trip to Ukraine?). Because even facing an unexpected health crisis, he cannot and will not stop supporting Ukraine. But now, Vitalii needs our help too.

In the short term, our goal with this gofundme drive is to raise $25,000 to help subsidize the cost of lodging and day-to-day living needs of his family (California is about 4x as expensive as Kyiv); as the situation is fluid, we will then work with Vitalii’s family and the hospital administrators to understand how much additional support is required to cover his medical expenses.

Finally, our longer-term intention is to raise additional funds in Vitalii’s honor through the US 501c3 nonprofit, Ukraine Rises, to finance humanitarian aid projects that will continue his legacy of helping Ukrainians in need.

Please help support Vitalii today.

Thank you, and Slava Ukraini!