Type of Wood Charities Inc

Krakow, Poland, is a significant refugee reception site. A US-based organization, Type of Wood Charities, transports refugees from the Ukraine/Poland border to Krakow in Medyka, Poland. You can read more about their work and see videos via YouTube and Facebook links at https://www.typeofwood.org.

 

On April 7th, I'll arrive in Krakow, Poland, to volunteer with them.

 

What has moved me to do this?

 

Auschwitz is about an hour west of Krakow, and Schindler's factory is in Krakow. I have often thought about how horrible it must have been to be suffering, thinking the rest of the world doesn't care about your suffering, and no one is coming to help. And how many lives were saved because ordinary people decided they would stick their necks out to help and protect.

And there is another piece - my thought that old men have the opportunity to be explorers, adventurers, and generous.  I read somewhere that the secret to jumping a horse over a fence was to throw your heart over the fence first, and then the horse follows.  It is easy to feel despair and helplessness in the face of problems that seem too large to be influenced by one person’s actions.  Inspired by my neighbor John's example, I decided to do this.  Covid, uncertainty, expense involved - there are things that are more important and sometimes the too careful man is the insufficient man

 

I've rented a van and expect I will be driving suitcases and supplies from there to Medyka, Poland, on the Ukraine border and bring people to safety on the return.

 

I've set up a GoFundMe campaign to benefit Type of Wood Charities. Dana and I are paying all my expenses, and 100 % of your donation will help the refugees and Type of Wood Charities.

 

You can donate directly to Type of Wood Charities on their website. https://www.typeofwood.org. I prefer you donate through the GoFundMe campaign so I can keep track of how much my efforts generate. Both ways of contributing are tax-deductible.

 

Type of Wood Charities requires that volunteers obtain a van and be self-funded to volunteer with them. They provide coordination between volunteers, refugee centers, interpreters, and navigation around Poland. They try to pair male drivers with female navigators and interpreters, when possible, to help families feel more safe and secure. They also fund supplies, including suitcases, food, and other necessities.

 

I will keep you informed of how your donations are helping and what I'm seeing and doing via a blog whose address I will share in an email shortly..

 

Thank you for your generosity, compassion, and willingness to join  my efforts to benefit Ukrainian refugees.

Type of Wood Charities  has partnered with Brooks Laich, World Playground and TAASA Lodge  to raise funds to build a primary school dormitory in Ololosokwan Village located in Northern Tanzania.

 

The village is home to members of the Maasai tribe, a Nilotic ethnic group that mostly resides in regions of Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya. The remote location of the village means there is limited infrastructure, economic opportunity, and educational resources for its adults and 800+ children and the existing school dorm is extremely overcrowded, worn down and under equipped for the number of students.

 

The belief that empowerment starts with education is shared by all parties involved in this fundraiser. After meeting the Ololosokwan villagers, visiting the school and seeing first hand the children who are eager to learn but lacking basic dormitory space to do so safely, we began working to create this fundraiser knowing the pooling of our resources and those of our communities can make an enormous impact for those children.

 

The immediate need we would like to address is the boys dormitory. It is extremely overcrowded, worn down and under equipped for the number of students it serves. The boys currently sleep 4 to a single twin bed and not all of the beds have a mattress. There are only two toilets and two showers and the chambers behind the toilets fill up very quickly leading to unsanitary conditions to live in.

 

We set our goal to $50,000 which would allow us to build a new dormitory (@ $40,000) to provide the students a safe, clean and comfortable space to live and sleep in while attending school. In addition to the dormitory, we would be able to purchase beds, mattresses, bedding and pillows, trunks for students to keep their personal belongings safe and a perimeter fence to keep animals away.

 

If we are able to surpass our goal, additional funds would be allocated towards building additional classrooms (@ $13,000/per). There are over 800 students in the school and currently only 8 classrooms. In addition to building the classroom structure, we would allocate funds to be used on desks and school supplies. Currently the classrooms do not have enough desks for each of the students so 2 - 3 students share 1 desk at a time.

 

As Type of Wood Charities is a verified charity with PayPal and a part of the Giving Fund, 100% of your donations to GoFundMe will go directly to these projects in Ololosokwan Village. Please help us give hope through education and reach our fundraising goal! Share this page with your friends, family and co-workers to tap into the power of the collective and make a massive impact in a village that desperately needs it.