Ways to Help Ukraine

UPDATE: Here is a list of several organizations through which people can help Ukraine from the U.S., as compiled by Diana Bostan of Piñon Pines. Please Note: Diana has made it easy to click the hotlink to see the rating of each charity for getting your donations to the people of Ukraine efficiently.

Top-Rated Charities Providing Aid In Ukraine:

Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) is working to set up emergency response activities in the country and dispatching teams to Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. Teams are also ready to respond in Russia and Belarus. In the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, teams have distributed medical kits to treat war-wounded people. The charity has also provided telemedicine training for trauma care for 30 surgeons from eastern Ukraine. 

International Medical Corps is helping civilians affected by the war in Ukraine, expanding its efforts in Ukraine and in neighboring countries to provide relief to the millions of people, including refugees, affected by the war, and is preparing to work with health agencies and local partners to provide the following relief services:

(1) Primary and emergency health services from medical professionals, including specialist physicians, general practitioners and nurses.

(2) Mental health and psychosocial support critical for people affected by war.

(3) Gender-based violence response services and increasing protection of women and children who face risks during conflict. 

(4) COVID-19 prevention and awareness services, to keep refugee and displaced populations safe from the pandemic. 

Team Rubicon and their organization, including physicians, is in Poland meeting with WHO, USAID and UNOCHA to coordinate support as the situation continues to unfold in Ukraine.

Samaritan’s Purse is responding to the growing needs in Eastern Europe as fighting continues in Ukraine. A Disaster Assistance Response Team has been deployed to assess how the organization might be able to meet the urgent needs of displaced families fleeing in search of safety.

Mercy Corps is on the ground in Romania and Poland, assessing the most urgent humanitarian needs in Ukraine and the region. They anticipate providing cash assistance as well as supporting local organizations that know the community’s needs best.

Lutheran World Relief is responding to families in crisis. Their teams are reaching out to local organizations that have direct access inside Ukraine and who are welcoming refugees fleeing to neighboring countries.

HIAS is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and neighboring countries and is responding with emergency humanitarian assistance to those who are displaced.

Church World Service is responding to meet the needs emerging from the crisis, though many details remain unknown. Their staff and partners in Europe are carefully monitoring the unfolding emergency. They are in deep conversation with their teams who work with migrants and refugees in Balkan nations, their local partners in the region, and international coalitions to assess emerging needs and to create response plans accordingly.

Care USA is aiming to reach 4 million people with immediate emergency assistance, such as food, water, hygiene kits, psychological support, and cash assistance to aid families in Ukraine who are fleeing violence, and is prioritizing women and girls, families, and the elderly.

Catholic Relief Services is providing shelter, hot meals, and transport to safe areas for people experiencing violence in Ukraine, as well as hygiene supplies, fuel to keep warm, counseling support and more.

Direct Relief & Direct Relief Foundation recently announced that it will commit $500,000 to support health efforts in Ukraine and surrounding countries absorbing refugees fleeing the violence and disruption. The organization is also in communication with regional organizations to coordinate medical support for refugee communities. Direct Relief is making its inventory of medical aid available and has humanitarian channels in Europe for further response. 

International Rescue Committee is working to quickly mobilize resources that will provide life-saving support to civilians forced to flee their homes. Their teams are on the ground in Poland, and they are working with their local partners in both Poland and Ukraine. IRC will work to respond where they are needed the most and with the services that are needed urgently.

Medical Teams International is working with its partners to determine a response. As the humanitarian needs in the region become clearer in the coming days and weeks, Medical Teams International will communicate the nature of its initial response and how people can help.

Mercy Corps is mobilizing a team to the region to assess where help is most needed. Here is what they know right now:

(1) 2.9 million Ukrainians were already in need of urgent humanitarian assistance prior to the current escalation of conflict, and at least 1.5 million are displaced within their country.

(2) As the conflict expands across Ukraine, we anticipate a large-scale humanitarian crisis for the country, beyond the scope of aid operations currently there.

(3) Mercy Corps is particularly concerned about the elderly, who make up one-third of people in need of assistance, and people with disabilities. They’ve seen these populations at risk in other areas of conflict around the world.

(4) The current conflict has already initiated large-scale displacement, and could lead to the displacement of millions of civilians who need basic services and support after fleeing for safety within Ukraine and to neighboring countries.

Operation USA is mobilizing to provide material aid support to groups providing on-the-ground support to refugees in Poland and nearby countries. At this time, they are calling on existing partnerships, as well as establishing new frontline partners, to expedite the delivery of aid where it is needed most. 

Project Hope initial response involves more than two tons of essential medicines and medical supplies that are being actively shipped to affected areas. Project Hope is focused on providing health and humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians, including refugees in neighboring countries fleeing the ongoing invasion. They are in contact with the WHO Health Cluster and other partners on the ground in Ukraine, who have already noted critical needs in primary health care.

Save the Children is urgently calling on all parties to the conflict to agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities to reduce the risk to children’s lives and wellbeing. Save the Children has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, including in the conflict-impacted regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. This includes supporting their access to education, providing psychosocial support, distributing winter kits and hygiene kits, and providing cash grants to families for basic needs.

United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the humanitarian relief arm of Global Ministries, is in communication with partners in the region and actively exploring the coordination of humanitarian response in Ukraine.

United States Fund for UNICEF has been working since the beginning of the conflict to provide psychological assistance and mine safety training to children, young people and their parents. UNICEF is continuing to work across eastern Ukraine to scale up lifesaving programs For children, including safe trucking water to conflict-affected areas; prepositioning health, hygiene, and emergency education supplies as close as possible to communities near the line of contact; and working with municipalities to ensure immediate help for children and families in need. 

This is part of the April 1, 2022 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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