If you have been looking for a direct way to help the children of Ukraine - this is it. Even a $10 or $20 donation to this direct-impact, feet-on-the-ground offering will help.

Our dear friends and all-around kickass human beings Lynne Boudreau and Misha Golfman have spent their lives making a difference in the lives of young people. They recently said goodbye to Kroka Expeditions, the experiential wilderness school they founded 30 years ago, and instead of taking a rest on a beach somewhere, they flew to Poland to work with refugee children fleeing the war in Ukraine, offering what they know best: the healing and restorative power of connection, nature and community.

They are doing this by offering both day camps and expeditions in the mountains for children sheltering in the Polish city of Rzeszow. This is an opportunity to provide normalcy and healing for the children and a break for their tired mothers, many of whom are working in menial jobs, parenting solo, and working through the trauma of losing so much.

The camps are an all-volunteer effort that they are funding from their own (modest) pockets.

< Crossing the Wetlinka River - cooperation and friendship>

<Learning navigation together>

<The children bonded quickly>

A week in nature and community means the world to refugee families. They are able to offer this program at a fraction of the cost of that in the States. Program cost per week, per student is $324 (no charge to the families or students). They are also hoping to buy bicycles for each child in the program before they leave.

<Such impressive focus!>

<Lynne with our expedition group>

<Lynne at a shepherd's hut in the mountains>

<Gathering water from the mountain spring in Ancient Buk (Beech) Forest>

To read more about their work in Poland with these children and see some beautiful photographs, you can check out their blog here.

In their own words:

"We have met with many women and children who fled Ukraine, and listened as they shared with us their stories, sorrows and hopes. It has been eye-opening and heart-breaking. Young families with lives and dreams shattered and suspended, only wishing to return home. There is no timeline, no certainty and only temporary security. In witnessing their despair and their grief, we are brought into a direct experience of the unfathomable cost of war.

Although the children we have met here have experienced some of the worst humanity has to offer, they are hopeful, yearning, and beautiful, like children everywhere. This experience has helped us discover a renewed relationship with the universality of some of the elements of our Kroka credo, which guided our work at home for so many years:

We believe:

<That the awakening of consciousness and altruistic will in young people is essential to creating a just and peaceful world >

<In the power of nature and community to awaken our highest selves>

<In our responsibility to fulfill the unique role of human beings in the web of all life>

Please help in this effort to bring peace and healing to the children of Ukraine ❤

<Misha with some of the group at the monument where Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet>

RZESZOW ADVENTURE PROGRAM BUDGET

Total Cost for three weeks of programming for nine students

Food $1,850

Equipment rentals: bikes, kayaks, tents $1,000

Equipment purchases: raincoats, sleeping bags, long underwear $1200

Car rental $1100

9-passenger van purchase $2,500

Gas $500

Lodging and camping $600

Bicycle purchase for the children $4000

Total Program Cost $12,750

TOTAL FUNDRAISING GOAL $11,750

Already raised $ 4297

**Needed $ 7453**