Help the Kurtas, a Ukrainian Refugee Family

Hear the Kurtas on our local NPR radio station!

Hello, and thanks for reading our GoFundMe page. My name is Cherie; I live in Thousand Oaks, California. My husband and I are providing a temporary home for the Kurta family — mom Yuliia, dad Andrii, daughter Marharyta (14 years old), son Seva (8), and daughter Adriana (5) — while they look for housing and work to start their new life in America.

They left Ukraine with nothing but their suitcases. They have no friends or family in the U.S., are essentially penniless, and don’t speak English. (Thank you, Google Translate!)

It's nearly impossible for them to find a place to live, because no one wants to rent to a family with no money, no jobs, no credit history, and no documentation beyond passports and humanitarian parole status from the U.S. government.

They are working with a refugee organization that will give them $1,920 a month for six months, once they've signed a rental contract. But they have no money for first and last month’s rent plus security deposit, which will total about $10,000. They'll also need to buy furniture and everything else they need to start a household from scratch.

But they remain ever hopeful and confident that they will build a good life and find happiness in America. Yuliia says (via Google Translate), “Soon is the anniversary of this terrible war on the part of Russia. But we Ukrainians have survived this year, and we will withstand as much as we need to defend our lands. But it is very dangerous in our country, and we can no longer be there and put our children in mortal danger. Our family was able to take our children away from the war, to America. To be safe! To raise a family safely. So that our children have a bright future, so that in general they will have a future!!!

We have nothing left. But we are ready to work hard and fruitfully to make our American dream come true!!! It is very hard to start everything new without money, housing, documents. We are very grateful to everyone for this indispensable help, whatever it would be — your help is priceless to us!!!”