{"id":47293,"date":"2022-09-27T09:56:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T13:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/?p=47293"},"modified":"2024-11-04T10:26:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:26:34","slug":"on-the-ground-with-ryan-how-can-we-help-ukraine-from-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/on-the-ground-with-ryan-how-can-we-help-ukraine-from-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Ground with Ryan: How can we help Ukraine from Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post was written by Ryan Grant Little, co-founder of CanadaHelps <\/span><\/i>who is currently working across Europe as well as on the ground in Ukraine<\/span><\/i>, supporting the ongoing crisis.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Ryan cofounded CanadaHelps more than 20 years ago with co-founders Aaron and Matthew in large part because he wanted to create a way for Canadians to react with our world-renowned generosity with immediacy and accountability.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

On February 24th 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, I felt an intense need to spring into action. These days I live in Vienna, Austria, where driving to the Ukraine border takes about the same time as driving from Toronto to Montreal\u2014well, depending on the traffic on the 401!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In that first week of the invasion, I was sure of two things:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. That there would be a lot of Ukrainians defending their country under-equipped in sneakers, jeans, and baseball caps<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. That there would be a crush of refugees trying to get to a safe place.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I also remembered that my VW Passat station wagon\u2014which makes up in functionality what it lacks in cool\u2014has a hidden trailer hitch.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"on<\/a>
    Courtesy of Ryan Grant Little<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    That first weekend I rented a trailer and headed to an outdoor supply store. I bought everything they had in camouflage and green, every pair of boots, every mat and tarp. The bill ran up to the equivalent of $35,000, and I had to have friends show up to split it across half a dozen credit cards. Later, I would reach out to friends and family in Canada to ask if they\u2019d like to chip in and their generosity was incredible. Through them, I\u2019ve been able to raise more than $150,000 to fund direct work like this since that first trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

    I filled the trailer and headed for the Polish-Ukrainian border, to a town I still can\u2019t pronounce: Przemy\u015bl. Through Ukrainian friends, I\u2019d found a contact there who would load the gear onto a tractor-trailer headed to Lviv. From there it would be distributed to Territorial Defense Forces soldiers, the newly minted home guard that was filling its ranks by the thousands each day.<\/span><\/p>\n

    How to help Ukrainians heading into winter:<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Here in Europe, we are being warned that household gas bills that were the equivalent of $150 per month could hit $1,500 per month, in part due to gas shortages from fuel supply storage facilities being destroyed in the war and <\/span>Europe’s dependency on Russia<\/span><\/a> for oil and gas1<\/sup><\/span>. Not to mention, Ukrainians in areas left with no gas supply are now having to decide between leaving their homes or buying expensive firewood (if they can afford it), despite resources available exceeding demand. The situation in Ukraine will only get worse as we head into sub -25 C weather this winter.<\/p>\n

    With donations and awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine dropping off precipitously in the last couple of months, now, more than ever we need to help.\u00a0 Here are some meaningful ways you can help:<\/span><\/p>\n

    1. Donate food & water but especially clothes<\/b><\/h3>\n

    While governments are shipping artillery and planes, many\u2014not all, but many\u2014soldiers are <\/span>still<\/span><\/i> fighting on the front lines in sneakers, jeans, and baseball caps. <\/span>Rather than making physical donations, Canadians can give to a charity that will provide jackets, sweaters, gloves, hats, and other winter garments to people in Ukraine, including vulnerable children, will help them get through the winter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Support responders on the ground that are providing essentials like food, water, shelter, and more:<\/span><\/p>\n