A Ukrainian family gets a fresh start in the USA

I met Olek, an 18 year old Ukrainian, in March 2022 after I posted on President Zelensky's Instagram page expressing love and support for Ukraine from the USA. Olek thanked me for the support and we began talking. A couple weeks after Olek's 18th birthday, he and his father left their home in Irpen to get him moved into his tech high school he's attending in Poland. They left Ukraine on Feb. 21, 2022 - just 3 days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. His mom was stuck at home alone for the first week of the war before escaping on an evacuation bus. While on the bus west out of Ukraine with other women and children, she witnessed firefights between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers, in which she saw young men on both sides die right in front of her eyes. Olek's parents (both over age 60) finally met up and started traveling around looking for places they could temporarily stay in Europe as Russians moved towards Kyiv, through Bucha and their hometown, Irpen. While Olek was safe at his dorm at his technical high school in Poland, his parents finally found a place to stay in Zurich, Switzerland. A local church in the city offered them a small living space above the church office where they have stayed ever since. Throughout all of this, I was in constant contact with Olek as we spoke every single day. As the spring approached, my husband and I decided we would really like to give Olek a proper vacation here in the US for a month over summer break. We applied for a tourist visa and flew him over and had a wonderful month and became closer than ever. My husband, Rob, and I see Olek truly as a little brother. It became clear that Olek's parents couldn't stay int hat temporary apartment indefinitely so we decided to apply for refugee status for them and Olek. They will be arriving in the US at the end of June & Olek will be enrolling in the high school I teach at in the Fall as a senior! We are thrilled to have them all living with us while they get on their feet but they do hope to get a small place of their own by September. All of the funds raised will be used to get the Lysyi family basic necessities such as clothing, toiletries, medical care, and eventually a small apartment with modest furnishings.