Ukraine Remains in Our Hearts…

Several of us went to visit our boots-on-the-ground friend Laura Pauli this past weekend in San Francisco. She is home now, but planning another return trip to Ukraine for a few months this summer to cook and serve meals with fellows food warriors that she cooked with at World Central Kitchen in Poland last year. They are on their own this time. Laura is so much more than a chef. Yes, she cooks like a superstar, but her heart is truly what draws us all to her work. Since returning from Ukraine, she has continued to raise funds for families who are in crisis…cold, hungry, grieving, sick, abandoned, vulnerable, homeless, raped, scared, dying, poor, and left wondering what has become of their everyday life, and how they will survive.

With Laura’s help, we have been able to identify many families who need our support. We have supported her in relocating many to other European countries, but now she is focused on those who have chosen to stay and fight, or to stay and resist the Russians goal to remove them.  The stories we've heard are horrific and we MUST continue to help where we can.

To this end, we are currently working on the following projects: 

·   1) To continue to make and deliver stoves for heat and cooking. It costs only $150.00 to have a stove built, pipes added, and then to deliver and install it into a home. Every family should have heat and the ability to cook, so this need will go on. 

 

 

 

2) To start repairing blown out windows in family homes, which are normally about $15.00 each.

 

3) To fill a pantry in Kyiv with food and water as supplies are extremely low at this moment, and they are foreseeing a water shortage as summer approached. This immediate goal is for $4,000.00 and will likely be ongoing.

 

4) To fill an immediate and life-saving need for $4,100.00 to buy bullet-proof vests for volunteer soldiers and humanitarian workers fighting and fielding supplies into Bakhmut, the current epicenter of the war and focus of Russia’s brutal attacks.

 

5) To purchase more boots to allay the outbreak of gangrene caused by bacterial infections because soldiers are sharing boots as they change shifts on the front lines. There are dozens of amputations reported each week due to this problem. Sturdy combat boots cost about $60.00 a pair.

We will continue to post updates and work directly with Dave Lowe, a volunteer soldier in Ireland, and his team in Kyiv. They are the true heroes, putting their lives at risk every day, constantly being shot at with bounties on their heads, and stepping into some scenes that we cannot even begin to fathom. Our support means the world to them and they have asked us to say thank you to all of you, for what you have done, and also for what we will continue to do. 

 

Take care of yourselves and those you love,

 

The Button Family and our growing team at Dream of a Better World

 

If you wish to support the work in Ukraine, please

 CLICK on this link, or 

CLICK on the “Support for Ukraine” button above.

 

Thank you all so much for your ongoing care and trust in our work!

With Gratitude for Another Year of Kindness and Generosity!

Thank you for all your support this past year! It seemed to fly by and there were so many needs as always, with the ongoing war in Ukraine being one of our biggest challenges. Thankfully, our friend Laura Pauli was there serving with World Central Kitchen, and her stories soon became our stories. We are all so grateful for her giant heart that rose up to make a difference, one family at  time.

 

We finished strong as always during the holidays, thanks to all of you, but this year was so much bigger than usual, with ongoing fundraisers in support of Ukraine and providing assistance to those suffering due to natural disasters and economic challenges. As we enter 2023, this is where our fundraising will continue, as the weather will be warming soon in Ukraine, the war has been relentless, and now we have more people suffering in Turkey, Syria, and even in our own backyard.

 

This is our 15^th year of raising money is a grassroots way for small projects around the globe. None of these projects can happen without all of you. Your ideas, time, donations and ongoing encouragement keep us going every year. You now bring project ideas to us that are close to your heart, and many of you walk side by side us as we fill some of those very needs. So thank you!

 

Because of your generosity this past year, we have been able to:

 

·      Stock a local food pantry

·      Support educational programs for a family in Africa

·      Provide food, clothing, toys, diapers, gift cards, and a holiday celebration for a local shelter for abused men, women, and children

·      Help a family of four flee Ukraine to the Netherlands

·      Purchase boots for Ukrainian soldiers

·      Help a sewing circle in Ukraine to make safety vests

·      Offer love through a final gift box to a lonely, ill incarcerated prisoner

·      Supply gift bags to prisoners for the holidays

·      Support projects aimed at housing and offering end-of-life services to those who are dying homeless or in prison

·      Purchase dozens of handmade stoves, providing heat and a means to cook, for Ukrainians who are suffering through this very cold winter without electricity

·      Bring holiday joy to a hard-working cafeteria worker in New Orleans who cares for hurting children and spreads goodness to everyone, and asks nothing for herself

·      Support a single dad who is struggling to provide for his family

·      Assist our boots-on-the-ground friends in Ukraine to relocate many families by offering airline tickets, gas money, food, and shelter

·      Purchase wheelchairs, supplies, and offer other needs to the dying and their caregivers through the Bay Area End-of-Life Doula Alliance

 

We could never do all of this without YOU! Thank you for being part of our lives and for always believing in us.

 

With love and appreciation,

 

The Button Family and all of us at Dream of a Better World!

 As always, we want to remind you that 100% of your donation goes to the causes we support. Administrative and accounting responsibilities are provided pro bono. 

We would like to especially thank the amazing team at Friedlander, Cherwon, and Capper for generously donating your time and skills to provide us with our annual accounting and tax reporting needs!

 

 

Thank you ALL!