CareBridge - Daveed - Help to Ukrainian Families

I'm David, 49 years old. I live in Spain with my daughter, age 2, who is half -Ukranian; born two years ago in Kharkiv.

 

The moment the war started I left her with grandma and headed to thePolish/Ukrainian border. I rented a car and found I could be useful by transfering families from the border to homes of locals; offering shelter. I also started hosting a family of 5 people at my Airbnb. A few days later I purchased flights for all 5 of them, flying to family in Italy; I cried when they left, they were so happy. And then I brought another family home to rest and heal.

 

I resisted crowdfunding for awhile... but hit the limit of what I could do. So started this fundraiser and quickly raised enough to do more... Suddenly, I was renting 5 of Krakow's largest airbnbs; hosting 75 people a night, with a team of 7 hosts to shelter, feed, help them.

We also quickly learned that the key challenge was getting these families away from the border; where resources were stretched to the breaking point, and further into Europe where they could have safe homes, food and financial assistence and job opportunities. So we started renting our own buses to get them to homes with communities I know in Spain and Sweden. We've done 7 buses total and will do more.

 

I make every attempt to use the donations to directly help Ukrainian families, or give the money to others doing the same. Anything left will go to Save the Children-Ukraine.

I've also created a FB group where I post my stories here and request help: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5351496601540750

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To get a feel for what I am doing, here is my diary post from yesterday:

 

 

 

Worked until 1am last night. These were exhausted families, many who had spent 15+ hours at the border, outdoors, temps around -3ºC; then another 3-5 hours waiting at Krakow Rail Station to be matched with homes.

I was driving. I'd be handed a sheet with a family name and host address. When there were children, we'd wake them if we could, but often they couldn't be roused, even with the din and bright lights of the station. On two occasions I carried children from the station to the car, then from the car to a home; ragdolls the whole way. There is nothing in the world heavier and lighter than a suffering child. I could have walked miles, many of these women had.

I got to be the one that delivered them to these homes; to love and warmth; what a gift to be there for exactly the moment when the feeling visibly passes over these parents: safe. I am safe. My child is safe.

The mix of gratitude, unconditional love and simple profound charity; passing between strangers, refugee and host, made possible by our ability for radical empathy. This is anti-war.