Help Milan Survive the Winter
--> WATCH this video first for context
We’ve all seen videos online of people in unfortunate situations. But we never expect them to be of someone we know – a good neighbor, friend, family.
About a week ago my uncle came across the dreadful video and recognized the man’s face and voice.
As I’m sitting here writing this, tears streaming down my face, my heart is broken. The 64 year old homeless man in the video picked my mom, brother and I from the airport last time we visited the Balkans a few years ago.
He also saved our lives 23 years ago.
When Operation Storm started in Croatia in 1995, our whole town was forced to flee from our homes and head for refuge in Serbia. Milan helped my brother, my mom and me escape amidst the shooting and bombs all around us. He stayed by our side and helped us make it out.
Not only does he have a big caring heart, he is also extremely smart. Milan graduated as an electrical engineer from the University of Zagreb in Croatia. He worked in that trade for many years before becoming a professor of information technology.
We are not exactly sure how he became homeless, and as it is still too hard for him to speak about it, we are going to respect that. Making it out of Operation Storm was just the beginning of the struggle. We were all refugees in Serbia after that. Some made it out and some did not.
I am writing this to ask for your help. We've tracked him down since discovering the video and are working to help him. My family is trying to secure a place for Milan at least through the winter. Moreover, my hope is that we are able to raise about $10,000 to build him a home on the land that he owns.
We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. It’s our turn to help save his life.
This is how he is currently living:
This is a photo of Milan (on the left) in Croatia before the war and I'm the blondie in the front:
