Help me save more Ukrainian lives!

https://www.azfamily.com/2022/04/29/ahwatukee-man-helping-single-mothers-children-escape-his-hometown-ukraine/ 

I edited out personal information like names/cities and few important details in order not to jeopardize the safety of everybody involved. However I am more than happy to share details in person with anybody who wants to know.

My name is Dima, I was born in Ukraine and moved to USA in 2011 to Fargo, ND as a mechanical engineering exchange student to work on corn farm. On the farm in Fargo I worked 15-18 hours/day with no weekends, no holidays, no overtime pay, winter cold was brutal – but I never gave up. I met my future wife while I was working on a farm and in the end of my 12-month long student program we got married. USA became my new home! In 2012 we moved to Omaha, NE and got our first child. In 2018 we moved to Phoenix, AZ and got our second child. I am quality control coordinator at Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. I love my family, my work, everything and everybody in my life! Things got crazy on February 24th 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine… I have a lot of family and friends in Ukraine!

 

I need to raise money to get as many people out of my hometown in Ukraine as I can. My town got occupied by on February 25th. Right now I am trying to help a single mom with two years old child, who is in danger and has to leave! Also there is another woman with two kids who I am trying to get out and bring to USA. I know these people bigger part of my life and I know they have nowhere else to go. After seeing what happened in Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel – I am determined to do anything I can to save as many lives as I can. In my hometown and surrounding villages soldiers go from door to door and search houses, my parents/relatives/friends got searched too. There are no easy way to get essentials, food, medicine. Nobody knows what tomorrow will look like there. I already brought my sister’s daughter-in-law and her six years old from my hometown to Phoenix and I can tell you that it is very expensive trip. To get out of there cost anywhere between $250 to $650 per person. Then you need to travel/eat/sleep/get documents/fly overseas – it can end up costing up to $5000/person to get to USA.

 

So what I personally I did so far? A lot! My sister’s son with wife and child took off from my hometown on the first day of war. He dropped them off at Polish border in few days and himself had to stay in Ukraine while his wife with son went to Poland. It took couple of weeks to get American visas for them and in the end of March they joined our family in Phoenix. It cost almost $10,000 to bring them here. I do want to mention that my sister and her husband joined my family in Phoenix in September of 2021 (they won Green Card lottery). They stayed in my house, found jobs, started building credit history so they could get their own place.

 

It is worth mentioning that I am in the middle-class income. I exhausted all my resources at this point. I never asked or received any help in my life, but it got to the point when I had to ask local community through social media to help me furnish a place for refugees. What a success it was! We got everything we needed for a family from Ukraine to start new life. As people were dropping off their donations, I met a lot of incredible kind people including Holly. After talking for an hour on the driveway at 10pm she asked me if I can help those women with kids mentioned above from my hometown? She made a good point: I cannot do it myself anymore, but with other people help – yes we can! More money I can raise – more people I can save!