Bring Easter to the Children of Ukraine!

Bring Easter to the Children of Ukraine!

Everyone, the fighting hasn't ended and neither have our efforts. Together, we're going to deliver the entire Easter Holiday to ALL of our Ukrainian children currently taking refuge in Dnipro.

Since the invasion started, we've been resolute in our determination to take care of the children who've been forced to flee from the fighting in Ukraine. In December of 2023, thanks in every way to our AMAZING donors, we were able to deliver the entire holiday of Christmas to our children taking refuge in Dnipro, Ukraine. You can see the results of that trip via the link and the video below (be sure to read the updates in the fundraiser!)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-christmas-to-ukraine

https://youtu.be/YpnCfpnQXNA

In that trip, we admittedly came up a bit shy in our fundraiser but we're not the type who would promise children a holiday miracle and then not deliver. In addition to the run's expenses, we threw in $1000 of our own funds to make sure we could buy every gift on all 57 of our children's Christmas lists and brought their presents right to their front doors. Unfortunately we did not have enough left over to help with a local orphanage we were hoping to work with.

We're hoping we can do better this time.

As a lot of you know, we've made multiple trips into Ukraine since the invasion and the children we're caring for now number nearly 60! More importantly though, those children understand that they can count on us. They know we're coming back, and we absolutely do not intend to disappoint.

So here goes. Our delivery of the entire Easter holiday begins right here. To give us the best chance of success, we’re starting this fundraiser early so be sure to tell all your friends! Sharing is absolutely free, and is the best way to get as many eyes on this as possible (and we’ll need all the help we can get!).

Ok, so why Dnipro?

Dnipro's central location, with regards to the crescent of fighting that surrounds it, makes it a prime location for families to seek refuge. It also makes it a prime target for Russian terror strikes. Many have hit already, some while we were still in the area! To put this into perspective, the below apartment building is walking distance from where our children's hospital supplies are normally delivered:

As if to drive that point home, russian terror strikes hit only days after our christmas presents were delivered. With electricity and heat being the primary targets, we need every gift we send to bring as much warmth and sunshine to the child receiving it as possible.

How does it all work?

Easter in Ukraine this year lands on the 5th of May this year. We plan on having this fundraiser open for donations from now until Sunday, the 21st of April . At the closure of the donations, we will use 100% of the collected funds to purchase the following items:

1) Easter chocolates, and gifts for our children in the area

2) Stuffed animals, Easter chocolates, and more Easter gifts for the 70 children in an orphanage for people with special needs.

In the event that we are fortunate enough to collect funds in excess of what is needed to satisfy the two points above, then we will use the extra money to donate any extra cash to the children's orphanage for those with special needs in the area (exact location to be named after our safe return). They currently house about 70 people from the ages of 4 to 40 and any help we could send would be an absolute godsend. Nothing collected here will go to anything else. Things like fuel, food, vehicle maintenance, admin expenses... They are our contribution to this drive, and one that we are proud we can make. 100% of what you donate goes to the children of the Dnipro or the Orphanage that you're donating it to.

From there, we load everything we were able to purchase in the back of our Toyota and drive it straight to the door of the people who receive it.

During the collection and after the delivery we will make MANY updates to this GoFundMe so please be sure you check in periodically so you can see the amazing work you are doing. If you'd like to follow along on other social media platforms then you can do so here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dniproexpress/

We have a Facebook page for the truck here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/510575651154518

And now we even have a website at Https://DniproExpress.com It's a bit rough yet, but we're learning.

But the best format we've found to clearly convey the story is still the "Grassroots Motorsports" magazine forum where this all started. Feel free to read it in part, or in its entirety, here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/ukraine-refugee-assistance/192402/page1/

(See pages 6, 12, 20, 21, 25-27, 35-37, 46-48, 63-66, 74-76 for trip reports)

And I know we have a lot of repeat donors on here and I want you to take a second to reflect back on some of the great success we’ve started these efforts:

Christmas in Dnipro, December 2023: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-christmas-to-ukraine

School Supplies to Dnipro, August 2023 https://www.gofundme.com/f/school-run-to-dnipro\

Easter in Dnipro, April 2023: https://gofund.me/da7af4ea

Christmas In Dnipro, December 2022: https://gofund.me/eeae7f7a

Christmas in Dnipro Slideshow: https://youtu.be/4nalj6erILI

School Supplies to Dnipro, August 2022: https://gofund.me/1a1f73fb

School Supplies to Dnipro Slideshow: https://youtu.be/QM4GtlSYj_s

A few things to note before we go:

1) The dollar amount listed as the "goal" for this campaign is completely arbitrary. We're driving to Dnipro with anything and everything we collect. There is no way we're promising a delivery to those children and then disappointing.

2) We do not sell anything and do not profit from any of the links you see posted here. You can click without fear of spam, sale attempts, or subscription notifications.

3) We do not take pictures of the people receiving aid, as we believe they deserve their dignity and their privacy. All pictures of children that you see (or will see) were sent to us by their respective mothers and were shared with their permission.

4) The orphanage in Dnipro will not be named until after the delivery is completed. Western supply lines are targets for the Russian military, and we do not want to put the children at any more risk.

5) We do not take pictures of anything involving the Ukrainian military and do our best to keep things like departure times and route info intentionally vague. This is for their safety.

So raise a glass, because here we go. Here's to the uncrushable spirit of the Ukrainian people. Here's to getting help to some children who deserve so much more.

Here's to helping the people of Ukraine find the peace they deserve.

And always, to any Ukrainians or to anyone reading this from inside Ukraine: The world is with you. Stay strong. We're coming.

#DniproExpress

#DniproStrong

#SlavaUkraini

#Ukraine

#Easter