Another way to help: book accommodation in Ukraine via AirBnB...
So far I have sponsored three hosts in Kyiv and have been in touch with all of them. I have chosen cheap accommodation as the flat/room in question might probably belong to a less better-off person. All of them are still in Kyiv, two of them are women. My first (male) host had this to say:
Hello,
Elizabeth!!
I have never accepted anyone's help in my life and what is happening now constantly moistens my eyes: People from all over the world have started sending us money through this site. We are supported.
Everyone can do their best. And we, in turn, support those who are having a hard time now.
Thank you very much.
I am moved.
After the war, come to us. Write to me and I will be glad to meet you in our beautiful city. "Y"
I accidentally deleted my message related to the airbnb bookings. These are the precautions I have taken. I got in touch with the hosts before making the booking (this is possible before paying). After making the payment, I checked that their phone number starts with +380 (rather than 7, which is Russia, or 44, which is the UK). I cancelled a booking where the host's number started with 7. I filtered out hosts who joined airbnb this MARCH. Foolproof? Not really, but I decided it would do for now...
Timothy - I am originally from Kharkiv and immigrated to Boston in 1989. I heard of you via a friend who runs RA Capital in Boston. I have family to whom I have been directly sending money in Dnipro, Ukraine. In a matter of days, I've raised $10k in direct donations from my network. My cousin in Dnipro is buying according to the needs posted on Dnipro volunteer resources (medicine, boots, supplies for conscripted men going to fight). You are right: the local mobilization effort is beyond inspiring.
You have inspired me and been a source of truth for me a countless others in the last week. In your video last week with Yuval you inspired me to collaborate with others and get creative in thinking about low-barrier, non-cash ways to help. I've since teamed up with a shipping company from Brooklyn, NY. The company is run and founded by Ukrainian immigrants such as myself. They are reallocating space on aircraft to ship clothing, wound care and personal hygiene items to Poland and courier into Ukraine. They have made an Amazon wishlist available for direct purchases to be shipped to their warehouse. They are also excepting coats and warm clothing donations straight from anyone. EVERYONE HAS AN OLD COAT! You were right! The response has been overwhelming and incredible. I secured free shipping labels through various sources as well and have been myself generating labels for anyone who wants it. Now donating a box of clothes is literally no cost.
You have been my source of truth for local NGOs and ways to fund efforts outside of my own. For this, I think you. You have provided me credibility and enabled me to evangelize everyone far and wide.
I didn't know much about you before last week. But now you are perhaps one of the most important. Thank you for all you are doing.
Been donating a little to a host of organizations about 6, helping the refugees, media. This morning I sent your article out as an email to about a dozen friends and hope they will participate. I reminded them I'm a WW2 refugee born in a displaced person's camp in Germany after the war as my parents fled Ukraine in 1943 after the last Russian invasion.
Thank you for the update and all you are doing. Professor Snyder, I know you lead by example and you are helping us help others. I made my first donation this morning and I will continue with monthly donations. Again, thank you Your advice and analysis here and in other venues are invaluable.
Thank you so much for that new link for donating to the Ukrainian armed forces. The earlier websites I had seen didn't take USD, so I felt uncomfortable donating. Just donated, and I'm bookmarking the link so I can make future donations.
Thank you again, Prof. Snyder. I have donated to 3 organizations in the past week (for care/evacuation of special needs Ukrainians, for animals, & through your link just sent something to Meduza, that truth might be told in Russia; also posted the link to fb). As a freelancer, I've been out of work for awhile, but I'm fortunate to be entering a good employment period, & so pledge to continue my donations to these & other organizations. Thank you for stepping with such grace into your present role, in educating & inspiring us in the general population. The YES-sponsored panel with Yuval Hariri had such profound resonance for me, I'm going to listen a second time so I can take notes!
Thanks for the reminder. Just donated. Will plan on giving more throughout the months ahead.
My ancestors were ethnic Germans who settled in Moldova/Ukraine around 18th century. They left because Czar Nicholas II took away their rights. He outlawed the speaking of German and was going to make them join the Russian army. They left and came to America in the 1880s.
To get money to the Borderland Foundation working through our American bank, I needed to manually type in the address of the organization because cutting/pasting the address from the organization's website added invisible special characters that were rejected. No periods were allowed either, so I changed "ul. Piłsudskiego 37" to "Piłsudskiego 37".
When attempting to do a wire transfer to "Caritas," our American bank would not transfer in US Dollars or Euros. I had to change the currency to "PLN," which automatically came up as one of the options for the type of currency. There was an extra $75 dollar charge for this. There was also a $45 charge for sending US dollars.
Some of these special instructions might be useful up front (across your various lists) but it would probably require testing each not-simple-credit-card link to discover additional tips for making successful transactions (and/or these orgs might add guidance to their own pages).
Thanks very much for these posts. For what it’s worth, I found an online option to donate to Caritas to help refugees in neighboring countries (which is separate from their appeal to donate for vulnerable people inside Ukraine): https://www.caritas.org/ukraine-appeal-22-2/ though this doesn’t go directly to Polish Caritas, but to the international organization, so I imagine it might be slower?
Thanks so much again for sharing links etc. I've donated several times now. I guess it is working out to weekly at this point. There were 2 excellent articles in The Guardian today, both by Russian authors and journalists. Here are the links. You'll need to copy to your browser. OR if you read The Guardian, go straight to it. And become a member and subscriber.
Another way to help: book accommodation in Ukraine via AirBnB...
So far I have sponsored three hosts in Kyiv and have been in touch with all of them. I have chosen cheap accommodation as the flat/room in question might probably belong to a less better-off person. All of them are still in Kyiv, two of them are women. My first (male) host had this to say:
Hello,
Elizabeth!!
I have never accepted anyone's help in my life and what is happening now constantly moistens my eyes: People from all over the world have started sending us money through this site. We are supported.
Everyone can do their best. And we, in turn, support those who are having a hard time now.
Thank you very much.
I am moved.
After the war, come to us. Write to me and I will be glad to meet you in our beautiful city. "Y"
Here is a recent article on the initiative... https://www.npr.org/2022/03/05/1084739721/airbnb-ukraine-direct-aid
Thank you Mr. Snyder. This information needs to be shared widely, I will do all I can.
I accidentally deleted my message related to the airbnb bookings. These are the precautions I have taken. I got in touch with the hosts before making the booking (this is possible before paying). After making the payment, I checked that their phone number starts with +380 (rather than 7, which is Russia, or 44, which is the UK). I cancelled a booking where the host's number started with 7. I filtered out hosts who joined airbnb this MARCH. Foolproof? Not really, but I decided it would do for now...
Unite with Ukraine through the Ukrainian World Congress is an easy way to donate as well.
Timothy - I am originally from Kharkiv and immigrated to Boston in 1989. I heard of you via a friend who runs RA Capital in Boston. I have family to whom I have been directly sending money in Dnipro, Ukraine. In a matter of days, I've raised $10k in direct donations from my network. My cousin in Dnipro is buying according to the needs posted on Dnipro volunteer resources (medicine, boots, supplies for conscripted men going to fight). You are right: the local mobilization effort is beyond inspiring.
You have inspired me and been a source of truth for me a countless others in the last week. In your video last week with Yuval you inspired me to collaborate with others and get creative in thinking about low-barrier, non-cash ways to help. I've since teamed up with a shipping company from Brooklyn, NY. The company is run and founded by Ukrainian immigrants such as myself. They are reallocating space on aircraft to ship clothing, wound care and personal hygiene items to Poland and courier into Ukraine. They have made an Amazon wishlist available for direct purchases to be shipped to their warehouse. They are also excepting coats and warm clothing donations straight from anyone. EVERYONE HAS AN OLD COAT! You were right! The response has been overwhelming and incredible. I secured free shipping labels through various sources as well and have been myself generating labels for anyone who wants it. Now donating a box of clothes is literally no cost.
You have been my source of truth for local NGOs and ways to fund efforts outside of my own. For this, I think you. You have provided me credibility and enabled me to evangelize everyone far and wide.
I didn't know much about you before last week. But now you are perhaps one of the most important. Thank you for all you are doing.
Been donating a little to a host of organizations about 6, helping the refugees, media. This morning I sent your article out as an email to about a dozen friends and hope they will participate. I reminded them I'm a WW2 refugee born in a displaced person's camp in Germany after the war as my parents fled Ukraine in 1943 after the last Russian invasion.
Is there a need for additional people to go to Poland to assist the organizations which are helping refugees?
Thank you for the update and all you are doing. Professor Snyder, I know you lead by example and you are helping us help others. I made my first donation this morning and I will continue with monthly donations. Again, thank you Your advice and analysis here and in other venues are invaluable.
Thank you so much for that new link for donating to the Ukrainian armed forces. The earlier websites I had seen didn't take USD, so I felt uncomfortable donating. Just donated, and I'm bookmarking the link so I can make future donations.
Once again this is an extraordinarily useful post . Thanks so much …
Thank you again, Prof. Snyder. I have donated to 3 organizations in the past week (for care/evacuation of special needs Ukrainians, for animals, & through your link just sent something to Meduza, that truth might be told in Russia; also posted the link to fb). As a freelancer, I've been out of work for awhile, but I'm fortunate to be entering a good employment period, & so pledge to continue my donations to these & other organizations. Thank you for stepping with such grace into your present role, in educating & inspiring us in the general population. The YES-sponsored panel with Yuval Hariri had such profound resonance for me, I'm going to listen a second time so I can take notes!
Thanks for the reminder. Just donated. Will plan on giving more throughout the months ahead.
My ancestors were ethnic Germans who settled in Moldova/Ukraine around 18th century. They left because Czar Nicholas II took away their rights. He outlawed the speaking of German and was going to make them join the Russian army. They left and came to America in the 1880s.
To get money to the Borderland Foundation working through our American bank, I needed to manually type in the address of the organization because cutting/pasting the address from the organization's website added invisible special characters that were rejected. No periods were allowed either, so I changed "ul. Piłsudskiego 37" to "Piłsudskiego 37".
When attempting to do a wire transfer to "Caritas," our American bank would not transfer in US Dollars or Euros. I had to change the currency to "PLN," which automatically came up as one of the options for the type of currency. There was an extra $75 dollar charge for this. There was also a $45 charge for sending US dollars.
Some of these special instructions might be useful up front (across your various lists) but it would probably require testing each not-simple-credit-card link to discover additional tips for making successful transactions (and/or these orgs might add guidance to their own pages).
Thanks very much for these posts. For what it’s worth, I found an online option to donate to Caritas to help refugees in neighboring countries (which is separate from their appeal to donate for vulnerable people inside Ukraine): https://www.caritas.org/ukraine-appeal-22-2/ though this doesn’t go directly to Polish Caritas, but to the international organization, so I imagine it might be slower?
I've emailed this article to many friends and family but have not been able to print a copy. Os this by design?
Thanks so much again for sharing links etc. I've donated several times now. I guess it is working out to weekly at this point. There were 2 excellent articles in The Guardian today, both by Russian authors and journalists. Here are the links. You'll need to copy to your browser. OR if you read The Guardian, go straight to it. And become a member and subscriber.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/07/russias-past-future-under-putin-soviet-repression
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/07/russians-ukrainians-putin-army-freedom-mikhail-shishkin