R2R Fundraiser on behalf of Emma and Tonko

Hello! We are Road to Relief, a humanitarian NGO active in Ukraine since early March 2022. On September 9th, 2023, in a town west of Bakhmut, Ukraine, our needs assessment team came under direct Russian attack. As a result, 2 of our volunteers were killed and 2 wounded.

Emma Igual - Director & Co-Founder of NGO Road to Relief

October 9, 1990 to September 9, 2023

She was 32.

Anthony "Tonko" Ihnat - Canadian volunteer for Road to Relief and Brave to Rebuild

October 10, 1964 to September 9, 2023

He was 58.

Ruben Mawick - German EMT for Road to Relief

Not critical. He is since recovering in the hospital. He suffers burns, cuts, and spalling from the blast.

Johan Thyr - Swedish volunteer managing Needs Assessment for Road to Relief

Not critical. He is since recovering in the hospital. He suffers burns, cuts, and spalling from the blast.

Our Team at Road to Relief are starting this fundraiser in honor of Emma and Tonko. We will be dedicating the funds to ensuring that Emma and Tonko each reach their final resting places, and all remaining funds will be directed to our main mission - to help Ukrainians in frontline villages who live under the threat of fire. It's what Emma and Tonko would have wanted, and we intend to honor that.

We already feel the absence of Emma who was a power-communicator and organizational operator, and Tonko with his heart of gold who would simply get the job done every time, not to mention Johan and Ruben who both filled huge roles within our team.

Although our task is far from complete, we continue to press forward.

Our next key steps are as follows:

We cannot stress enough the immensity of this loss for the family members and all the volunteers who loved and worked closely with Emma and Tonko.

For those who have sent us such kind words of power and encouragement, thank you from our whole team at Road to Relief. We will use your words as fuel to contend with the coming weeks and months.

With Heart,

Road to Relief Team