As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, locals are finding ways to support the millions of refugees from afar.
Sequim service agencies, churches and individuals are some of the people worldwide supporting the United Nations’ estimate of 3.9 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since Feb. 24.
The U.N. also reports about 6.5 million more people have been displaced from their homes, too.
For more information about charities supporting Ukraine refugees, visit the Better Business Bureau’s give.org.
Here are some of the known, local efforts to support Ukrainian refugees in some capacity:
Sequim Rotary Noon Club joins support
Members of the Sequim Noon Rotary club and fellow Rotary and Rotaract (youth) clubs around the world remain committed to support Rotarians near the conflict to provide food, water, medical equipment, and shelter for refugees.
Rochelle McHugh, the Sequim club’s treasurer, said on Monday they’re close to $3,000 in donations from local club members with their total to be matched by their District 5020. The district stretches from Vancouver Island to the Olympic Peninsula to Woodland along Western Washington, she said.
“The district-wide response has been so great that clubs in our district added $22,000 over and above the original $50,000 and now the matching dollars are up to $72,000 for a potential total of $144,000,” McHugh said.
The public can support the effort at my.rotary.org/en/disaster-response-fund and here: tinyurl.com/ccwuan7m.
Sequim Noon Rotary Club, a community service group supporting local and international causes, notably gifted Adaptive Bikes to physically challenged students in the Sequim School District. They also plan to offer their salmon bake once again in August 2022, McHugh said.
Club membership is open to anyone with meetings held at the Big Elk Restaurant in person and via Zoom. For more information, email to sequimrotary@gmail.com, or visit sequimrotary.org or Facebook.com/SequimNoonRotary.
Franz partners with daughter to help
Sequim resident Sally Franz said she’s been partnering with her daughter Rebekah who lives in Latvia, north of Ukraine and Belarus, to reach out to Ukrainian refugees and work with the charity Samaritan Association of Latvia to truck in medical supplies into Ukraine.
Franz is a former fundraiser events manager for Save the Children, and a director at UNICEF at the U.N. She said her daughter recently purchased beds for three Ukrainian girls and their grandmother for an apartment in Riga, the capital of Latvia, after the girls’ parents returned to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, to fight.
A few weeks ago, Rebekah purchased $635 in supplies with help from Franz’s local friends for refugees arriving in Latvia. On March 23, more locals gave to Franz so she could wire $3,000 to the Latvia charity to purchase about 33 pallets of medical supplies to be trucked into Ukraine.
On Monday, Franz said she continues to wire money directly to Samaritans of Latvia for medicines for refugees and to children/seniors who are still in Ukraine with disabilities and chronic illnesses.
Franz said her former work life educated her well in knowing how to get people’s money quickly to the highest needed areas with no overhead.
She can be privately messaged if donors wish to give a check, and/or pass along support through Venmo: @Sally-Franz; and PayPal: Sallydianefranz@gmail.com.
For more about the Samaritan Association of Latvia, visit www.samariesi.lv.
Franz also recommends locals give through their local Rotary and/or church who can wire money to counterparts on the ground with contacts for distribution.
Dungeness Church’s supports missions
Lead pastor Tim Richards at Dungeness Community Church wrote to his congregation on March 1 that he reconnected with his friend Serge Landik, a native Ukrainian who now teaches at a Bible school in Pennsylvania. The friends met during Richards’ visit to Ukraine in 2018.
Richards said Landik is still “deeply connected with the church in Ukraine” and that churches in the city of Mukachevo, in western Ukraine, and many other cities have become refugee centers for people fleeing from the heaviest fighting.
He advised Richards that funds are desperately needed for food, mattresses and bedding in churches as they shift to refuge centers.
One effort is a refugee center in Uzhhorod, in western Ukraine, now with more than 100 beds and growing needs to feed refugees. Donations can be made at give.onecollective.org.
Another ministry is Calvary Chapel Living Water in Mukachevo led by Pastor Joe Sterling Brown (facebook.com/jsterlingbrown) helping many refugees with donations accepted here: tinyurl.com/2sz5p7ke.
Previously, the church held a special prayer service for Ukraine, and Richards said church leaders continue to encourage their church family to pray for Ukraine.
For more about Dungeness Community Church, visit dcchurch.org or call 360-683-7333.
