Bring Anastasia, Alice, & Elina to California

This is Anastasia, Alice, and Elina. Alice is a very fashion-forward nine-year-old and thinks a lot about outfits she'd like to design. Until very recently, she lived with her sister, Elina (7) and her mother Anastasia, in the Donbas region of Ukraine, which has been ravaged by war and devastation since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014. Since last year, they've been living in a refugee camp in Germany.

The war in Ukraine is very personal for me; I'm partially Ukrainian myself and have felt deep concern for its people. Phillip and I were both drawn to find a way to materially support those whose lives, homes, and communities have been ruined in the conflict. But beyond sending money to charitable donations, we wanted to do more; to open our home to someone who had lost theirs.

Through the organization Welcome Connect, we met Anastasia and have been developing a friendship with her from a distance over the last nine months. Despite her situation, Anastasia has shown herself to be resilient and determined; she longs to find stability and safety so she can take care of her girls, get a job, and begin putting her life back together. She's excited at the prospect of finding work either in manufacturing or in elder care—professions she practiced in Ukraine.

The process of sponsorship has been a long one; Anastasia had to get passports for herself and her girls, and there were bureaucratic bungles and mix-ups with the paperwork that delayed the submission by several weeks. But she finally got her passports and we were able to submit the sponsorship application to the US government, and it appears that it's moving along as hoped; Anastasia has recently been contacted by the government to verify details from the application, and they've begun to receive travel authorizations!

We're asking for your help to raise money for three flights from Germany to LA. While we're relieved that the application process is at last near an end, the prolonged process has depleted Anastasia's already humble resources. Welcome Connect has recommended using online giving platforms (like this one) for communities to coordinate charity efforts.

Thank you all for your generosity and support; we're excited to open our home and finally meet Anastasia and her girls!

Janelle and Phillip