News from Ukraine: LHI and Manifest Mira Deliver Comfort (Food) to Displaced Ukrainians

by Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

Eric held a bag of packaged grain up to my face and exclaimed, “Gretchka!”

“Gretch—what now?”

“It’s called Gretchka. It’s a grain, and you’ll never find a Ukrainian home without it. When the war started, it’s one of the first things that flew off of the shelves. It is a Ukrainian staple and also a comfort food. That’s why we put it in our food boxes.”

Gretchka, or buckwheat porridge, looks a little different from my comfort food of fries dipped in a Wendy’s Frosty, but I trust it’s just as delicious. And it is an invaluable addition to the food boxes that we were assembling for a large aid distribution that day.

A bag of gretchka.

Eric, our gretchka aficionado, is a Canadian expat who happened to be living in Odessa when the war started, and he jumped right into the war relief efforts. Now he runs a distribution warehouse, which is one of LHI’s 7 Operating Centers in Ukraine. This center is in partnership with Manifest Mira.

The warehouse specializes in making food boxes meant for internally-displaced Ukrainian families in the area. Each food box contains, yes, you guessed it, two packages of gretchka, along with all kinds of other foodstuffs, hygiene items, and some school supplies; basically enough to make distributing the somewhat heavy boxes a workout that would burn off any gretchka eaten for breakfast.

Eric and his team have made a point of sourcing almost all of the goods they distribute from within Ukraine. They work with Ukrainian vendors and suppliers to support the local economy, rather than bringing in goods from outside.

Volunteers packing food aid boxes.

Together with Manifest Mira, we have distributed nearly 3,000 of these boxes to displaced families in 18 different towns in the Odessa region. That’s over 119 tons of aid! Each box is lovingly assembled and distributed by Ukrainian volunteers, some local and some who had fled from places like Mariopul in the East.

My colleague Jaron and I got to tag along with the Manifest Mira team to distribute our food boxes to a handful of homes on the outskirts of Odessa. We met families of all kinds - of different sizes and circumstances. Some had lost homes, others had lost family members. Some had fathers, husbands, or sons fighting on the frontlines. The common theme was that they had no money left to buy the necessities. 

A young Ukrainian girl and her brothers examine the contents of their food box.

While I depended 100% on a translator to understand what these families were saying, I found another common theme. I was always able to pick out the word “gretchka,” and see the smile on their faces when they saw it in their food boxes..

News from Ukraine: The Women of the LHI Shelter in Lviv, Ukraine

by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

As is the case with displaced Ukrainians, most of the women at the shelter are on their own. Most of their men joined the military when the war started. In some isolated cases, men stayed behind in danger zones to take care of elderly family members. 

As I write this post, about 40 women and children are living at the LHI Shelter in Lviv. I got to spend a memorable day with them last month. Please bear with me as I try to fit such an incredible experience into a little blog post nugget. 

The visit starts with me almost tripping over a large cat just casually sleeping in the middle of the main room. Ilona, one of the women at the shelter, explains that the cat had wandered in just a few weeks after the war started… and subsequently gave birth to 4 kittens.

“We didn’t have the heart to turn the little cat family away, probably because they’re just like us. Maybe their owners had to flee in a rush. Maybe their homes are gone.” She adds laughing, “We call them Children of the War. I guess we’re basically cats.”

I can’t multitask very well. Once I picked up the kitten and got distracted by other things, I forgot I was holding that poor thing until it literally clawed my arms about 30 minutes later.

The women run the day-to-day operations of the shelter. Ilona, who is a former soldier and mother of 5, is the de facto head manager. Her main responsibility is registering new arrivals and assigning others to prepare their spaces and some food.

Ilona’s husband, also a soldier, was already on active duty when Russia invaded Ukraine in February. She and her children, including her newborn son, were living in a town in the Zaporizhzhya region which was quickly occupied by Russian soldiers. They retreated to their basement for safety, where they managed to stay for 3 months without running water or reliable cell phone service. “A lot of elderly people died from the stress. We buried a lot of people. I used to be a soldier, so I could handle these conditions.” But, finally food became too expensive, and conditions too unsafe. Ilona gathered her children and fled.

I got to witness Ilona’s leadership in action as she comforted a woman named Xenia who was tearfully telling us about her 4-month-old baby who died because of the war. Ilona stood by her, gently stroking her arm and said reassuringly, “I hope the war will end very soon.” Xenia replied, “I hope for that very much. I want to go home. My son is buried there. I want to go to him.”

Longing for home is a theme amongst the women in the shelter. An elderly woman named Vasilevna tells me, “They promise Kherson will be liberated in August. Once it is liberated, I will go home the next day. I won’t wait a single day. I will walk home if I need to.”

This is Ilona welcoming newcomers to the LHI Shelter. I had to steal this photo from a video, so please excuse the quality. But, this image encapsulates Ilona in action!

As for Ilona, her work is cut out for her. Her adorable toddler wakes up from a nap just as a new mother and child arrive. I have to hand off the kitten so that I can hold her son while she goes to welcome the new arrivals. As Ilona walks away, she says, “The war will end sooner or later. We just have to be patient.”

To hear the stories of the women of the LHI Shelter in their own voices, please watch the video below.

News from Ukraine: An Entrepreneur Becomes a Humanitarian!

by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

Stas is short for Stanislav, and that is the only short thing about him. At a height of 6’5”, the man towers over literally anyone he’s standing next to, especially the babushkas who live at shelter.

A few days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we started looking for local Ukrainian organizations to partner with in order to get solid work done. In this search, we connected with a Lviv local who had an incredible idea. In short, Stas owned an empty basement space and wanted to convert it into a 55-bed bomb shelter. With funding, he and a group of his engineer friends would transform the basement into a warm, welcoming two-story shelter. 

We enthusiastically agreed to fund the project for several reasons, two of which stand out: The project proposal closely aligned with the key goals in our Ukraine response, and second, we prefer to work with local Ukrainian organizations and individuals. They started converting the shelter immediately. With their own hands, they built the second story, installed three toilets, two showers and a kitchen, along with installing all of the plumbing and ventilation systems. And, reflecting their desire for families to feel at home, put up homey wallpaper and painted cheerful walls for children’s space.

The LHI Shelter in Lviv under construction.

Let’s hear from Stas himself: “Originally, I decided to create a shelter for people who are forced to move from their cities because their homes were damaged by explosions.” 

But now that the war is looking to be longer than perhaps anticipated, he has adapted his business plan:

“Our shelter is not designed for permanent residence, but people can stay for as long as it takes to find a home and job - be it a day, week, month or even year, if necessary. And of course, we will not charge for any of this, because our shelter is not designed for rich people, but it is designed for those who have lost everything because of the war.” 

Even if the war does end soon, he hits on a very important point a lot of us may not think about: “There will still be many people who need temporary resettlement since their cities have been destroyed.” 

Click play to watch this video of Stas giving me a tour of the LHI Shelter in Lviv.

And with his business background, he’s hatched yet another incredible idea: He’s hoping to buy a food sorting machine so that the women in the LHI Shelter can start a small food packing business.

When it comes to Stas, the women and children residents of the shelter have better manners than to gawk at Stas’s large stature like I did. They told me about his gentle heart, his commitment to their comfort, and his kindness.

Natalia from the Donesk region speaks emotionally about what brought her to the LHI Shelter in Lviv.

A woman in her 30s from the Donesk region volunteers her story. She’d run out of money to pay for a hostel she was staying in, so she fled to Lviv with her children. She said, “I prayed a lot. I believe in God very much. I called Arena Lviv (a famous soccer stadium that is currently serving as a shelter for refugees from the east), and they told me that there is a very good person named Stas who opened a place for wives of soldiers to stay at, for other moms with kids who need shelter. It’s totally free. They bring humanitarian aid here. We do not need anything here. We have good conditions here, we have the basics. I am very thankful to Stas. You can barely find such good people these days. Thanks to him, we are all okay.”

Many of the women at the LHI shelter shared their stories with me. In my next blog post, I will share them with you.

News from Ukraine: An Orthodox Priest and His Community Shelter Displaced Ukrainians At A Moment's Notice

by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

Father George, Hayley, and Father Vasily in front of one of the beautiful murals at St. George’s Orthodox Church.

The best thing about being on the ground is meeting ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. This trip to Ukraine was no exception. On day three of the trip, we found ourselves in the sanctuary of St. George’s Orthodox Church, which has stood in the center of the village of Storozhynets in Western Ukraine for 170 years. It even survived the Soviet era when St. George’s was decommissioned and used for industrial storage.

The curved golden steeple was shining in the sun when Father George and his own father, Father Vasily, walked out to greet us. (Side note: Although Lifting Hands has been working with Father George and providing funds for his network of Orthodox priests to get aid to the areas of Ukraine hardest hit by the war, I’d never actually met Father George in person.. For months I’d pictured an older man wearing a long robe. I was surprised to find that he’s this young guy who wears jeans). 

Before visiting one of their local refugee projects, they gave us a tour of the church.  At one point, in the sanctuary, father and son spontaneously broke into song. We’re talking perfect pitch and perfect harmonies. It was so beautiful, even though I didn’t know what they were saying. 

Father Vasily and Father George sing in the sanctuary.

The word “sanctuary’ literally means “a place of safety”, a fact that seems not to have been lost on Father George and Father Vasily. Russia started its invasion of Ukraine at 5 am on February 24, 2022. By noon that same day and with the help of their congregation, they had transformed their newly-constructed seminary building into a shelter, complete with mattresses and food. They put it out there on social media that they were ready to take in those who needed shelter. About 60 displaced Ukrainians poured in throughout the day.

Today, the seminary - here, the word means a school that provides religious education to youth - still hosts 30 people, mostly from devastated regions of Eastern Ukraine. The classrooms are now bedrooms, and the open spaces are now school classrooms for the children! Each room has bookshelves full of religious texts that now share their space with the occasional stick of deodorant, shampoo bottle or a charging phone.

A seminary classroom that has been converted into a bedroom.

As Ukrainian culture [delightfully] dictates, we sat down with Father George and his father for a snack of cake and a glass of homemade berezovyi sik, or birchwood juice. The conversation went in all kinds of interesting directions, inevitably landing on the war. “Were you ever tempted to flee?” I asked. “Absolutely not,” Father George answers. “Many of my priest friends in the east have been killed, so I know safety is not guaranteed. But you saw the murals in the Church, right? Who do you see? You see Jesus, not Putin, not Zelensky, not any politician. My job is to stay here and to care for God’s children.” He added that the seminary will be a shelter for as long as it is needed.

We asked Father George what he needs help with. He replied that he and the local community has the shelter’s needs covered, including 3 meals a day, all cooked in the basement. (The basement hasn’t changed in 170 years, which makes me feel like I’ve been transported back to the earliest days of the church).  But, he says, “I do have a favor. Winter is coming. We are expecting a gas shortage.  There is an orphanage in Kharkov that is home to 300 children. They could use help getting jackets.” We ask him to put us in touch. And this is how humanitarian work is done. 

Learn more about our work in Ukraine here.

Turning 39 in a War Zone

by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

LHI Founder/Director Hayley Smith in Chernivsti, Ukraine, on her birthday.

I’m less enthused about birthdays these days. So, when my 39th birthday happened to land on a very busy work day in Ukraine, a gas station hot dog en route from Odessa to Khryvi Rih was enough of a celebration (instead of using a bun, they stuff them into freshly toasted bread sleeves—they’re a national treasure). Minutes later, a large military jet flew low and right over us. It was such a bizarre juxtaposition of events—seeing a reminder that we were in a war zone and while munching on a birthday hot dog. 

Lunch with our friend Liza. Normal life goes on, but now with church windows boarded up and the periodic background drone of air raid sirens.

This isn’t the first time I felt like I was in a twilight zone here. A few days before in Chernivtsi, we ate dinner at a busy Asian fusion restaurant blasting Europop. Teenagers played football/soccer across the street while the air raid siren would occasionally sound in the background. Odessa and Lviv feel vibrant and back to life, despite sandbags and anti-tank hedgehogs (metal structures that look like huge toy jacks) concentrated at busy intersections, bridges, and historic buildings. The streets are bustling until mandatory curfew comes around at 10 pm and the city turns quiet and dark.

But in Kryvyi Rih, the city where I spent my birthday, it is clear that Ukraine is very much a war zone. Artillery is hitting 15 miles away from the city. Internally displaced Ukranians arrive daily. The local hospital treats frontline soldiers. The three different sirens blare, making a dissonant chord.

Hayley with Priest Vasiliy (left) and Father George (right) in Chernivtsi.

Needless to say, this is not a birthday trip. We are here to meet the ordinary Ukrainian people and local organizations that LHI has partnered with to get work done at a grassroots level. For example, we met Father George who turned a seminary in Chernivtsi into a shelter that houses around 30 people. We also met Stas, a local business owner who built a two-story shelter in an empty basement to house women and children. These are two of our many projects that you’ll be hearing about soon. 

LHI’s Jaron (left) is tall, but Stas, a local business owner who built a two-story shelter near Lviv, is VERY tall.

I am more than 6 years into humanitarian work through LHI now. Even though I’m currently in the heart of Ukraine, I can’t help but think about refugees displaced by other conflicts around the world, such as the Syrian Civil War and the ISIS attack on Sinjar, to name a few. How easily we forget when the news cycle moves on. Yet, I am also in awe of the way ordinary people look out for each other in extraordinary circumstances. This includes all of you who make the work Lifting Hands International does possible through your donations and volunteer work. You (and hot dogs in bread sleeves) are the best birthday present I could ever ask for!

Click here to learn more about our ongoing relief efforts in Ukraine.

Faces of Ukraine (Part 5)

written by: Jaron Malyon, LHI Director of Monitoring and Evaluation

Jaron Malyon has been on the ground in Moldova , Romania, Hungary and Poland as part of LHI’s senior admin team as they establish an immediate response to the Ukraine refugee crisis. He speaks fluent Russian and has been incredibly instrumental in creating several local partnerships.

Yevgeni Verbanov, founder/director of Peer to Peer with Hayley Smith, LHI founder/director.

Rather than come into Moldova and try to reinvent the wheel, LHI has vetted and funded 21 orgs that already have local knowledge and deep ties to rural communities hosting refugees, but just don’t have the additional budget to deal with the surge (more than 400,000 Ukrainian refugees coming through Moldova with 100,000+ remaining in the country). One such organization is Peer to Peer, a small, community-based organization in the village of Parcani, Moldova.

We sat down with founder/director Yevgeni Verbanov to find out more.

“Several years ago, my child was born with a severe disability. It changed everything for our family. We couldn’t have managed on our own, but people from the community helped and it made all the difference. So I started Peer to Peer in 2018 to extend that same assistance to disabled people who find themselves in difficult circumstances.”

Mr. Verbanov said that when he first established the organization and started offering services, people were skeptical. No other organization had ever come in and just offered help without some sort of hidden political agenda. Slowly but surely, the community warmed to Mr. Verbanov’s gentle encouragement that sometimes, people just want to help!

Jaron Malyon (R) and Yevgeni (L) talk with a Ukrainian woman in the host home’s courtyard.

Even though the organization is relatively new, it has made a huge impact on families who have members with disabilities. And with the latest influx of Ukrainain refugees to the village, Peer to Peer is as busy as ever.

“Now, the people who need us here are Ukrainian refugees who have left everything behind. So many have come to our village. We welcome them to our community and offer them our hand.”

One way he knew he could empower the local refugees is through helping them create their own sustainable source of food through gardening, especially those who are sheltering with more elderly locals.

L: A Ukrainian woman and her son with disabilities at a host home in Moldova. R: The kind elderly man hosting them in his home.

“In the eastern region of Moldova, most people have a small house in the village with a garden plot, many of whom belong to elderly people who can no longer grow their own food. These elderly villagers are opening their homes to host hundreds of refugee families but cannot support them with food or other necesities.”

“Our goal is to create a sustainable food source for our refugee guests right here from our own soil.”

“You know, my daughter passed away last year, but her spirit lives on through our work.”

📷 cred: Patrick Petro

Click here to learn more and support LHI’s work for Ukrainian refugees.

Faces of Ukraine (Part 4)

written by: Jaron Malyon, LHI Director of Monitoring and Evaluation

Jaron Malyon has been on the ground in Moldova , Romania, Hungary and Poland as part of LHI’s senior admin team as they establish an immediate response to the Ukraine refugee crisis. He speaks fluent Russian and has been incredibly instrumental in creating several local partnerships.

“Help to Ukrainians. Free food and drink.” Sign outside of pop-up transit shelter supported by LHI at a border crossing from Moldova to Romania.

It’s not usually my role to be dispatched to crisis zones, but having lived in Moldova, Hungary, and Russia, it made sense this time. I’ve relied heavily on longtime friends in the region to understand the refugee situation as it unfolds and pinpoint areas where we can contribute.

At LHI, we’re always looking for the gaps in aid/service provisions, which is why I went to Moldova first. The int’l humanitarian response has largely focused on Poland—rightly so, given the massive number of refugees—but Moldova has been completely overwhelmed (in the early days, especially).

The first wave of refugees (mostly wealthier Ukrainians) have largely transited through Moldova and Romania to other destinations, but many in the subsequent waves (mostly poorer) are staying, at least for a while, confused, traumatized, with little resources and no connections abroad, trying to figure out what comes next. One man in a shelter with his wife and babies, told me, “The thing I need most now is advice!”

While orgs and volunteers have mobilized to meet the urgency of the situation, working 20-hr days to evacuate, feed, and shelter refugees, there’s hardly been time to think about what comes next. As we’ve seen from conflicts in other parts of the world, long-term crises will play out for years in countries neighboring Ukraine, even if they aren’t pulled directly into this war. As a Hungarian friend said the other day, “Hungary didn’t know what to do with 400 Afghans in November. How on earth will they deal with tens of thousands of Ukrainians now?”

At LHI, we’re grateful, honored, and moved by the trust so many donors (including family and friends!!) have put in us to get funds to the front lines and make a meaningful difference for as many people as possible.

📷 cred: Shannon Ashton

Click here to learn more and support LHI’s work for Ukrainian refugees.

Jaron Malyon on the ground with LHI in Moldova.

Faces of Ukraine (Part 3)

written by: Shannon Ashton, LHI Board Member

Shannon Ashton has been on the ground in Moldova with LHI senior admin team members Hayley Smith and Jaron Malyon as they establish LHI’s immediate response to the Ukraine refugee crisis.

Shannon, a professional photographer, has photographed LHI's projects and initiatives in 5 different countries since 2015. Many of LHI's most iconic photos were taken by her.

A local volunteer serves her homemade soups and breads to Ukrainian refugees crossing from Moldova to Romania.

It takes a village, people! I’m filled with utter amazement at the endless giving and love I have been a witness to during my time on the ground here. The countless micro-offerings of love given by complete strangers.

The young adults working round the clock in a pop up refugee centre in Chisinău. The teenager serving as a translator in his spare time. The kindness and comfort given by a Russian driver facilitating relief efforts. Aid workers running buses in the middle of the night out of Odessa to get people to safety. The business partners in Iasi opening a refugee centre in shopping mall in Romania at their own expense. The young Moldovans forming a grass roots task force tackling all sorts of problems. The vested volunteer at the Ukraine border tirelessly answering questions into the night. The man passing out flowers to all the women refugees on International Women’s Day.

We got stuck in the exodus, in a near 5-hour crossing from Moldova to Romania in the middle of the night. Nearly all the vehicle plates queued with us were Ukrainian, along with many buses carrying more Ukrainians. And pictured here, the townspeople at a Moldovan border town opened a makeshift rest depot providing home cooked meals and a smile for crossing refugees stuck in long border queues. Here they offered warm shelter and delicious warm meals as if everyone entering was a welcomed guest visiting their home. They treated us the same. I shall never forget the special moments shared in this little shack. So much love.

There is such good in the world. Even in this place of darkness we find ourselves in, there is something good to find. The people helping.

Click here to learn more and support LHI’s work for Ukrainian refugees.

LHI Founder/Director Hayley Smith (L) and Shannon Ashton (R) in Moldova.

Faces of Ukraine (Part 2)

written by: Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director

LHI founder/director Hayley Smith is on the ground in Moldova with other senior admin team members to establish LHI’s immediate response to the Ukraine refugee crisis. She has been visiting several sites run by local organizations to see how we can support both the orgs and also their beneficiaries.

She talked to Oxana at a shelter in Chișinău, Moldova. This is the transcription of their conversation.

Oxana from Odessa. She was so warm, so generous, so kind, so soft-spoken, so humble. Photo by Shannon Ashton.

[You can hear Oxana come down the rickety stairs from the attic apartment of the shelter to a storage room that is now an improvised living room]

Hayley: “Hi! I’m Hayley”

Oxana: “Hi, I’m Oxana” [Oxana knows English]

Hayley: "I want to hug you, but I don’t know if that’s okay, with covid and all”

[Oxana comes in for a long, strong hug]

Hayley: “Where are you from?”

Oxana: “We are from Odessa. We arrived tomorrow, I mean yesterday. We don’t know how many days I will stay. I hope maybe 10 days. I hope that the problems with Russia will be over. I’m here with my daughter. She’s five. Four families live in the apartment."

Hayley: “Are you traveling to family?”

Oxana: “No, I don’t have any family in Europe. I have friends in Poland. I have a sister in California [indicates her shirt], but I don’t know how I can get there. I don’t have a visa. And her husband is Filipino. They aren’t citizens and don’t have a way to get us there. I would rather arrive to Ukraine. I don’t want to live in another country. All of my friends and family are in Ukraine [5 second pause] I don’t understand yet what happened. I don’t understand yet. It happened very fast. I didn’t think it was possible. I still can’t believe. My mind can’t believe why? Why? Why did this happen? It’s very shocking. It’s just political things and we suffer. Now I think about my child. What will happen? What about her future? We can’t live like this forever. I very hope that God will see everything and I can maybe stay 10 days. I very hope and go to my country."

Hayley: “Are your parents in Ukraine? How are they?”

Oxana: “My parents are okay. My husband is live in Ukraine. He wants to live with us but he can’t. And my mother and father I want them to come but they say no, no. Go! We will stay here. It’s our country, it’s our town. My sister, very younger than me, and she says 'Go sister! Go Go Go! Very Faster! Go! No No!' She is very afraid. She has two children and my child. 'Faster! Go with your child now!'"

Hayley: “Do you talk to your husband everyday?”

Oxana: “I talk to my husband everyday. Morning. Afternoon. Evening. We say every day. ‘How is the town?’ ‘What is it like now?’"

Hayley: “Is everything okay there so far?”

Oxana: “No, this is the start. Because Odessa is a very big town, very important, and they want to control port. It is a strategy town or something like that. Because other town like Kharkov and Kyiv are in the middle, but Odessa is on the sea. It is where they can come into Ukraine. We will be safe here and hope the God."

Hayley: “And you have a child?”

Oxana: "Yes, you see my child is playing [upstairs]. She is good. She said, 'oooo! We have so many plans!' She has other girls to play with. She don’t understand. Maybe better this way."

Click here to learn more and support LHI’s work for Ukrainian refugees.

Hayley visits shelters in Chișinău, Moldova

Faces of Ukraine (Part 1)

written by: Shannon Ashton, LHI Board Member

Shannon Ashton has been on the ground in Moldova with LHI senior admin team members Hayley Smith and Jaron Malyon as they establish LHI’s immediate response to the Ukraine refugee crisis.

Shannon, a professional photographer, has photographed LHI's projects and initiatives in 5 different countries since 2015. Many of LHI's most iconic photos were taken by her.

This is Anna who arrived yesterday in Moldova on a bus from Odessa, Ukraine. Early in the dark hours of the morning of February 24th, a "rocket bomb" was dropped on the Odessa airport 7 kilometers from where she lives. Her apartment shook with force, and even though it was dark outside the sky lit up as if it were the sun. They spent three days in a bomb shelter where they couldn't wash or do anything. After a few days she took her son and left Ukraine for Moldova. She didn't want to leave, and had to leave her mother and ailing grandmother behind. They all told her to get out while she could even though they could not. She packed her son's things, enough to last through summer. She currently waits in a shelter in Chisinau hoping to get on a bus to somewhere. Maybe Poland? Spain? She isn't quite sure. 

"Please share this with all the people who don't believe what is happening here is true." 

Her child playing in the background as we spoke, I began to feel such incredible sadness over the upheaval of their lives, having to flee for fear of imminent death. And being forced to leave loved ones behind never knowing if they'll see each other ever again. These lives, lacerated. And the millions of others whose lives are likewise being torn apart by this barbaric war in Ukraine. I am angry at the evil that is causing this. 

We met so many others just like her, and right now thousands more are pouring across various borders out of Ukraine throughout Europe. I have been a witness to many refugees all over the world over the years, and I can say in absolute that this could be any one of us. And that fact alone requires that I do my part to help.

Click here to learn more and support LHI’s work for Ukrainian refugees.

Hayley (L) and Shannon (R) in Moldova.