Directly Impact Local Ukrainian Refugee Family
Donation protected
Greetings Friends, Family, and Extended Chicago Community -
As news of the Russian invasion in Ukraine worsens – more than 2 million people have fled Ukraine in 12 days – one family’s story hits particularly close to our home. We are Mark and Jaime Murray, and we're raising funds for our Ukrainian nanny - Olha Volyanyuk and her immediate family. Her son and his family are attempting to leave Poland later this week after evacuating Ukraine due to the Russian attacks and invasion.
It's been a long few weeks for Olha, her son Mykhailo - his wife Olesia, and their two small children aged 2 and 3. A month ago, their family happily celebrated the life-changing moment when Mykhailo was awarded a green card after an arduous 8-year wait. Two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, he arrived in the U.S. alone to get situated and complete the immigration process to bring his family stateside. As the events in Ukraine unfolded, he watched with the pain and uncertainty of his decision to leave. At that moment, his hands were tied regarding travel as he did not have his physical green card yet and couldn't leave the country.
After the start of the invasion on February 24th, Mykhailo and Olesia decide that their family should leave Ukraine and travel to Poland as refugees. While Mykhailo was here in the U.S. consulting with immigration attorneys about the feasibility of traveling to Poland, Olesia relied on support from her sister-in-law and her two teenage children as they managed to travel together to the Polish border and crossed there on the 25th of February.
On February 26th, Mykhailo received the all-clear from his immigration attorney to travel to Poland, and he and our nanny, Olha leave that night. When they arrived, both families were thankfully able to stay together but moved several times to different refugee housing and finally landed in Warsaw.
The idea was to go to the US Embassy in Warsaw and request an emergency visa for Olesia and the children to join Mykhailo and Olha here in Chicago. Well, they weren't the only ones with that idea - the US Embassy was flooded with people. The best that the US Embassy could do was provide everyone with a photocopy of the standard procedure to apply for a visitor visa to the US. So Olha and her family did that and were given an appointment for sometime in July for the interview to qualify for visas to the US.
Out of options at this point, Olha reached out to our family and asked for help. We found it was nearly impossible to figure out how to classify a visa application as an emergency and request an expedited appointment. We were able to connect with a few local immigration attorneys here, and they thankfully (free of charge!!) provided the framework of how to obtain an emergency visa interview appointment. We followed that procedure, and by the grace of God, they were given an appointment for Monday, March 7th and were approved for an emergency visa!
Now is where you come in. Olesia and her two toddlers left Ukraine with one suitcase. It was all that she could carry. Please consider donating to help this family find some stability and immediate relief as well as help them begin to rebuild their lives.
Thank You -
Mark and Jaime Murray
Mykhailo, Olesia and Family:
As news of the Russian invasion in Ukraine worsens – more than 2 million people have fled Ukraine in 12 days – one family’s story hits particularly close to our home. We are Mark and Jaime Murray, and we're raising funds for our Ukrainian nanny - Olha Volyanyuk and her immediate family. Her son and his family are attempting to leave Poland later this week after evacuating Ukraine due to the Russian attacks and invasion.
It's been a long few weeks for Olha, her son Mykhailo - his wife Olesia, and their two small children aged 2 and 3. A month ago, their family happily celebrated the life-changing moment when Mykhailo was awarded a green card after an arduous 8-year wait. Two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, he arrived in the U.S. alone to get situated and complete the immigration process to bring his family stateside. As the events in Ukraine unfolded, he watched with the pain and uncertainty of his decision to leave. At that moment, his hands were tied regarding travel as he did not have his physical green card yet and couldn't leave the country.
After the start of the invasion on February 24th, Mykhailo and Olesia decide that their family should leave Ukraine and travel to Poland as refugees. While Mykhailo was here in the U.S. consulting with immigration attorneys about the feasibility of traveling to Poland, Olesia relied on support from her sister-in-law and her two teenage children as they managed to travel together to the Polish border and crossed there on the 25th of February.
On February 26th, Mykhailo received the all-clear from his immigration attorney to travel to Poland, and he and our nanny, Olha leave that night. When they arrived, both families were thankfully able to stay together but moved several times to different refugee housing and finally landed in Warsaw.
The idea was to go to the US Embassy in Warsaw and request an emergency visa for Olesia and the children to join Mykhailo and Olha here in Chicago. Well, they weren't the only ones with that idea - the US Embassy was flooded with people. The best that the US Embassy could do was provide everyone with a photocopy of the standard procedure to apply for a visitor visa to the US. So Olha and her family did that and were given an appointment for sometime in July for the interview to qualify for visas to the US.
Out of options at this point, Olha reached out to our family and asked for help. We found it was nearly impossible to figure out how to classify a visa application as an emergency and request an expedited appointment. We were able to connect with a few local immigration attorneys here, and they thankfully (free of charge!!) provided the framework of how to obtain an emergency visa interview appointment. We followed that procedure, and by the grace of God, they were given an appointment for Monday, March 7th and were approved for an emergency visa!
Now is where you come in. Olesia and her two toddlers left Ukraine with one suitcase. It was all that she could carry. Please consider donating to help this family find some stability and immediate relief as well as help them begin to rebuild their lives.
Thank You -
Mark and Jaime Murray
Mykhailo, Olesia and Family:
Organizer and beneficiary
Jaime Murray
Organizer
Chicago, IL
Olha Volyanyuk
Beneficiary