We all watched with horror as Putin invaded Ukraine on February 23rd. If you were like us, you may have wondered, “What can I do to help?”
Our good friend, Steven Moore, decided to put his life on hold to help anyone he could. He has a special connection to the Ukrainian people; he lived in Ukraine from 2018-2019 and made many close friends. At first, he did his best to help them from afar, but there were too many limitations.
Ultimately, Steven, or Stepan as he is known in Ukraine, helped more than 100 Ukrainians get to safety.
Now that the refugee flow has stopped, he has partnered with large international NGOs to deliver aid to places they cannot go - medical supplies to hospitals near the front, food to villages near the Russian border. In the month of July, Steven and his partners delivered more than 70 tons of food and 7 tons of medical supplies to Kharkiv, a city 30 miles from the Russian border, a third of which has been rendered virtually unlivable.
We want to be a force multiplier to aid in Steven's work. He is courageous, smart, selfless and someone we all trust - which is why we’re asking you to participate in this fundraiser. This is an all-volunteer effort. All funds will go to medical supplies, food, transportation, shelter and other emergency needs.
Please join us so that we can help Steven do more to help the good people of Ukraine.
Team Stepan:
- Kristen & Brian Byrne
- Chris Cate
- Amber & Rene Gracia
- Lani Lutar & Dan Lounsbery
- Gary Rotto
- Theresa Wulf
-
Rozanna & T.J. Zane
- Beata & Lynn Szrom
Highlights
See all activity1109
Hey friends, I am in Ukraine helping to save lives. I need your help to continue.
I lived and worked in Ukraine in 2018-2019. While I was there, I developed a sizable network of really great friends - they call me Stepan, the Ukrainian version of my name. Many of them were unprepared for Putin's invasion.
At this critical time, I have the freedom and skillset to help friends who are fighting for survival. This is not my first war zone. I was one of the first wave of civilians into Iraq in 2003 and ultimately spent two years there. Democratic Republic of Congo and East Timor are both places I have called home.
The Monday after Putin invaded, I landed in Europe and hired a car to drive me to the Ukrainian border. I called some of my Ukrainian friends to pick me up and I have spent most of the time since then in a Ukrainian city. I rented an apartment - itself not an easy task with the flood of people fleeing Kyiv for relative safety - and sent out word to my friends and their friends that I had a safe place for them to land.
Since arriving in Ukraine, I've helped get some 70 people to safety, most of them friends. I've done all this out of my own pocket. I have spent enough money to buy a car, even at today's inflated prices. To help keep my friends alive, this is well worth it. I can't imagine a better thing to spend my money on.
If I can get more funding, I can help more people. Essentially, we have built a machine that gets people out of the dangerous parts of Ukraine to a safer part of Ukraine or across the border, if they choose. The machine also works the other way. We can get equipment and supplies from the US and the rest of Europe into the hands of people who need them in Ukraine's hot spots. We call it the Ukraine Freedom Project.
Here are a couple of projects the Ukraine Freedom Project working on:
- Internally displaced people (IDPs) are a major problem and one that not enough NGOs are currently addressing. Of the people who have come through my apartment, only about a quarter have left the country. Military-aged males are not allowed to leave. Most of the people who come to me are making a very difficult decision as to whether the family should split up and the women and children should leave the country or whether they can make a go of it as a family in the safer parts of Ukraine.
- I have a line on a former children's camp facility that sleeps about 100 people. It is relatively easy and inexpensive for me to lease this, but I don't want to get 100 people into it and find out in June that I have no money to feed them. I need a continuing funding stream.
- My Ukraine network includes doctors that have a reach into some 70 hospitals in Ukraine. If we can get panel vans to a safe part of Ukraine near Kyiv, which should be relatively easy, we can put the supplies in a warehouse, and volunteers from the Kyiv area can get them in their private cars.
Please take a few minutes and donate now. Thanks for taking the time to read my story.
