Ukrainian family reunion

My dear friends, friends-of-friends or anyone else, who stumbled upon this post,

My name is Maria Shpakovska–Gonnet and I am desperately seeking support to help my Ukrainian parents relocate to the United States. I came to the US as an international student in 2015. I am 26 living with my husband Riley (28) in Pomona California where Riley is in Dental School. We have been together for 6 years.

My mother Galyna, a realtor, and my father Oleg, an engineer, live in Kyiv, Ukraine. The war has taken its toll on our family and continues to be a frightening situation. I am their only child and being apart in this time of terrible stress has been awful.

Through my sponsorship, my parents have been accepted into US Humanitarian Parole Refugees program (U4U) to come to the US and live with us. However, this process requires more money than we have as a new Registered Nurse and 2nd year Dental Student. I am the only provider and Riley relies on student loans.

Once in the US my parents will be able to better their English and eventually find work. Before that they both will need a lot of support to get settled. They are leaving almost everything they have ever owned behind. Their US paperwork says they must relocate in the next 3 months, which may not be enough time so sell their apartment in war torn Ukraine. They may come with only what they can carry in their luggage.

On top of everything, my mom suffered through severe COVID, developed additional health issues and needs medical treatment not available in Ukraine.

I humbly ask for help with whatever you can to make my family whole again. Any kind of assistance will be greatly appreciated, and every dollar will count towards their move to America, English education, job training and basic survival expenses.

I promise to provide detailed updates on the progress and spending, as our work moves along.

Thank you in advance for your help!

With gratitude,

Maria and Riley