Help for Ukraine

As the war rages on the world begins to forget Ukraine and become accustomed to the atrocities going on there. We are directly in touch with many people in Ukraine and they need help now more than ever! We have family and friends in Ukraine and we want to help. We have spent years interacting with the yoga community there, teaching numerous yoga workshops and trainings. It is a place and culture that is dear to our hearts. It is the home country of my wife Mila. Any funds we can raise will be sent directly to our family and the yoga community in Ukraine for food, medicine and help with the things they need most.

We have no affiliation with any government agency or charity organization. We are simply individuals who want to help any way we possibly can. We offer full transparency as to where funds go, to whom, and what they are used for. Your donation can make a difference in the lives of people in a very difficult situation while their country is torn apart by war.

Funds donated will go directly to people we personally know for the following purposes

• Medical Expenses

• Food, Water and Clothing

• Heating and Electricity

• Transportation for children and families to safer locations

Blog for our Help for Ukraine project

What have we done so far with our funding?

First we got my wife Mila’s Parents out of Ukraine to a safer place with close friends of ours in Prague Czech Republic where the Yoga community is taking an active roll in supporting Ukraine. Huge gratitude to Dalibor Stedronsky and his wife Lenka for extending their warm hospitality and involving their yoga community in Prague!

We have also relocated our 10 year old niece Arina and her mother Elena to Germany and continue to help them get established.

Second we are funding grass roots operations through Ukraine’s yoga community to deliver food and medicine where it is badly needed.

The yoga communities in Ukraine are providing outstanding services to their communities. They are purchasing food and medicine and risking their lives daily to deliver it where it is needed. We are able to send money directly to people we know and trust completely. These funds are spent immediately for humanitarian aid.

On March 7 we discovered that Western Union is waving fees for transfer to Ukraine and we began funding.

Our friend in Kharvive, Borislav, (full names will be left out for security reasons) asked for a yoga talk for his yoga community in Kharkive. I agreed and asked the help of Swami M. A. Alwar from Mysore to address yoga practice for those who are dealing with shock and trauma as their city and country are bombed. The talk was made available to people all over Ukraine and other parts of the world. The link to this talk is here.

https://vimeo.com/685046231

Borislav is a psychologist as well as a yogi. He has been purchasing medicines to help doctors in his community to treat their patients. We are supporting Borislav to help secure antibiotics and necessary medications for doctors clinics in Kharkiv where some of the heaviest bombing has occurred. Doctors literally do not have the means to treat their patients at this time..

We contribute to the ongoing efforts of our friends Arthur and Natasha in Kharkiv who are walking through the subways to deliver food and water to elderly people and those in need. There is a severe shortage of food and water in many places. Stores are empty and closed and only people with connections can access food. So we give to those who are able to purchase food and deliver it.

The Avatar group in Kyiv are friends of ours who organize a huge yoga festival every year in Ukraine. They are doing operations around Kyiv to deliver food and medicine. They have a large and well organized group of volunteers and are doing excellent work. We are supporting them on an ongoing basis also.

We try to help everyone we can manage to help with the resources we have. We also send funds directly to individuals who are either trying to flee the country or need help to sustain daily life while in Ukraine.

Random acts of kindness. We know many Ukrainian people through social media and their posts are heartbreaking these days. As far as possible we are communicating with them and trying to help financially as well as connect them with friends of ours in yoga communities around Europe.

Honestly what we have done is so small compared to the needs that are there. But we do what we are able to and this is what we have managed to do so far. We will be doing more in the coming days!

The gallery below shows some of the people receiving help and also the operations of our friends who are doing all they can to help. They are not necessarily beautiful photos but they reflect the real and actual situation at this time.

We successfully got my wife’s [parents out of Ukraine and to the United States where we are taking care of them in Oklahoma. We are building a place for them to stay longer term because it is not safe for them to return to Ukraine yet. We can use help with building materials, appliances and medical expenses among other things. Thank god they are safe though!

We continue to help our friends in Ukraine as we are able to with money for food, clothing, medical expense and also equipment for soldiers. We do not buy weapons, but we are happy to provide protective gear, night vision goggles and other necessities for those whose duty it is to defend their country in these grave times.

As food prices soar in Ukraine and infrastructure becomes increasingly unstable it is more necessary than ever to help as much as possible!

My mother and father in-law met their granddaughter Maya for the first time recently and it was love at first site!