Richmond (VA) Friends Meeting

From Peace and Social Concerns – Organizations to Help Ukraine

by WebPost | Apr 21, 2022 | Announcement, Peace and Social Concerns

From Peace and Social Concerns – Organizations to Help Ukraine
The War in Ukraine weights heavy on our hearts. There are different ways to attend to the issues and needs.
You may also wish to attend an International Meeting for Worship for Ukraine, Monday through Saturday, noon EST. The
Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4165005614?pwd=NUtieEtqbDBYbjBrcGdMMzBKQ3drQT09
If you do not already contribute to an organization working in Ukraine, below are organizations suggested by a Ukrainian
American Friend (some have recently formed and therefore have no check on efficiency, etc.).
Organizations with multiple projects
https://www.uuarc.org/happening-now/ https://unitedhelpukraine.org/
These are organizations with targeted work: Medical support
 RAZOM: Emergency Response – for tactical medical training. Help qualified war medics teach civilians first aid and provide them with medical supplies. Now sourcing funding for a cargo plane shipment of medical aid.
 NEW: Help Ukraine Center (Donate, Physical Donations) – Polish-German initiative powered by the Ernst Prost Fundation. Medicines and other essential humanitarian products will be delivered to regions that need it the most, in cooperation with our partners: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ROZETKA, Fozzy Group, TIS, Dragon Capital, Spunbond fund, Ukrposhta.
 NEW: United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (Donate) – provide vital medical supplies to victims, care for the injured and refugees, as well as shelter and food to those affected.
 Sunflower of Peace – for medical assistance and other necessities. Each IFAK (medical backpack) can save up to 10 lives.
 Lifeline Ukraine – for psychosocial support. Ukraine’s first suicide prevention hotline mobilized in response to alarming rates of veteran suicide.
Veterans and internally displaced persons
 NEW: Future Kyiv Charitable Foundation (Donate) – collection of charitable contributions for the purchase of
humanitarian aid to Kyiv residents, organized by the Kyiv Municipal Government.
 Revived Soldiers Ukraine – for provision of medical aid and sustainable living standards to wounded soldiers and members of their families.
 Ukrainian People With Disabilities in Crisis – helps Ukrainians with disabilities – especially those who want but cannot evacuate – protect themselves in case of emergency.
 Caritas Ukraine – provision of humanitarian assistance to various social groups and those impacted by the conflict. More information here.
 CrimeaSOS – assistance to internally displaced persons from Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. With the support and partnership of UNHCR, it promotes community initiatives for these groups.
 British-Ukraine Aid – assistance to vulnerable individuals who have been physically, mentally or socially disadvantaged, including the injured and wounded, orphaned children, the elderly, internally displaced persons and families who have lost their main earners. More information here.
 People in Need: SOS Ukraine – for provision of food and sanitation packages, emergency shelter, psychosocial support, and more in Donetsk and Luhansk, both in territory under the control of the Ukrainian government and in territory not currently under government control.
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 UN Crisis Relief: Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund – contributions are collected into a single, unearmarked fund and managed locally under UN leadership. As crises evolve, funds are made directly and immediately available to a wide range of partner organizations at the front lines of response. This way, funding reaches the people most in need when they need it.
Religious and ethnic minority aid
 JDC: Emergency in Ukraine – provides a lifeline for an estimated 40,000 Jewish elderly and 2,500 poor Jewish children and their families through its network of care services, Jewish community programs, and Jewish leaders in more than 1,000 locations across Ukraine.
 Rabbi Bleich's Help Kyiv – help set up a Refugee Camp for the Kyiv Jewish Community, organized by Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi.
 United Jewish Appeal (Donate) – support urgent and mounting humanitarian needs including food, shelter, transport, and emergency medical units.
 Roma Women Fund – advocate for Roma women's rights in Ukraine and collaborate with Roma communities on the regional level.
LGBTQIA
 NEW: Insight NGO (Donate) – A Ukrainian human rights public organization which brings together lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.
 Ukrainian LGBT Military for Equal Rights Association – support LGBT military in their fight on the frontline and for equality of all citizens at home.
Children
 Help Us Help – donations will be used to fund the following: evacuation and relocation of staff and beneficiaries (children, scholars and veteran families), humanitarian aid delivery, and medical assistance for victims.
 Save the Children - Ukraine – distribute essential humanitarian aid to children and their families; deliver winter and hygiene kits; provide cash grants to families so they can meet basic needs like food, rent and medicines; provide access to safe, inclusive, quality education; work to help children overcome the mental and psychological impacts of conflict.
 Voices of Children – psychological/psychosocial support for children affected by the war.
 Saint Javelin – all proceeds of shirt and sticker sales go to a fund for the children of fallen and wounded Ukrainian
soldiers.
 Toy Drive for the Children of Fallen Heroes – provides assistance for displaced people, orphans, and families of Ukrainian military who died or were hurt in action. Volunteers in Ukraine learn about needs on the ground and pass information on to us.
Education
 Ukrainian Leadership Academy – an educational program that aims to develop a generation of young leaders for Ukraine and the world. Over the course of a gap year, young adults learn to work in a team, set goals, develop projects, take responsibility for their lives and the country's fate, and choose their future profession more consciously.
 Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation – invest in the lives of young and talented future leaders of Ukraine and the diaspora.
 Veteranius – help teach and employ veterans, volunteers and internally displaced persons in the IT sector and involve them in socially important projects.
 Bohdan Radchenko Stipend for Veterans – tuition for a Master’s at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (KMA), Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU).

Thinking About Race – (May 2022) The Souls of Black Folk

by WebPost | Apr 21, 2022 | Announcement, Peace and Social Concerns

“Your country? How came it yours? Before the Pilgrims landed we were here. Here we have brought our three gifts and mingled them with yours: a gift of story and song—soft, stirring melody in an ill-harmonized and unmelodious land; the gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilderness, conquer the soil, and lay the foundations of this vast economic empire two hundred years earlier than your weak hands could have done it; the third, a gift of the Spirit. Around us the history of the land has centred for thrice a hundred years; out of the nation's heart we have called all that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst; fire and blood, prayer and sacrifice, have billowed over this people, and they have found peace only in the altars of the God of Right. Nor has our gift of the Spirit been merely passive. Actively we have woven ourselves with the very warp and woof of this nation,— we fought their battles, shared their sorrow, mingled our blood with theirs, and generation after generation have pleaded with a headstrong, careless people to despise not Justice, Mercy, and Truth, lest the nation be smitten with a curse. Our song, our toil, our cheer, and warning have been given to this nation in blood-brotherhood. Are not these gifts worth the giving? Is not this work and striving? Would America have been America without her Negro people?”
― W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, 1903
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaison at each local Meeting. The BYM WGR meets most months on the first Saturday, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, currently via Zoom. If you would like to attend, contact the clerk at david.etheridge@verizon.net.