Ievgen (@ievgen_skyrda) has used his access to sporting clubs, gyms, and training facilities to create wartime shelters for transient refugees who need food and shelter.
Ievgen’s clubs host approximately 100 (this has since increased to 170) people a day (many of which are small children) in and around the central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi throughout their cooperating network of gyms. The gyms mainly host families with small children fleeing recently attacked regions of Ukraine and are moving westward. These families usually only stay one night and arrive with very little as they come from the most recently sieged cities and towns. Ievgen and his team have been financing their operations based solely on local donations and other associated sporting clubs across the country.
Goals
The donations are almost entirely used on food and fuel for cooking. Apart from that, they buy essential equipment for maintaining the shelter. They share with the local military defenses in times of surplus food or money.
Ievgen Skyrda is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black belt under Max Carvalho who represents ZR Team; his school was preparing for the PAN Championships in the United States before a Russian assault on Ukraine completely changed their world. Their training mats are now a fully functioning shelter for those needing warmth, food, and safety.
Please help support Ievgen and his infinite service to so many people from the devastated areas in desperate need of the most basic comforts we take for granted each day. With your help, Ievgen’s team can continue their fantastic work and facilitate the safety and freedom of many innocent civilians in need.
A few words about my involvement
I am originally from Maywood, NJ but live in Budapest, Hungary which shares a border with Ukraine. Ievgen is a member of the ZR Team Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy, as am I in the Budapest chapter. My coaches Max Carvalho and Tereza Souza heard about our fundraising activities towards Ukraine and connected me with Ievgen. We hope the war is over as soon as possible and that Ievgen and his team can return to the mats in peacetime.
