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 the “Support for Ukraine” button above.
Thank you all so much for your ongoing care and trust in our work!
