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Send check to: Common Man for Ukraine, 71 Main Street, Plymouth, NH 03264
COMMON MAN FOR UKRAINE
We are "Common Man for Ukraine", a non-profit alliance of donors and heroes working with Rotary Clubs in Plymouth, NH USA and Zamosc, Poland. We have funded an all-volunteer network to provide basic humanitarian aid to refugee children both with and without parents, in both Poland and Ukraine . We are "common men" working to help our neighbors who face a needless war in Ukraine.
A young Ukrainian girl is holding the sign that accompanies every relief package that we send. She stands in front of her bombed out apartment building. She and millions of other Ukrainian kids are facing the effect of adult aggressors who have no regard for their lives, health ,or futures. Yet, she manages to stand courageously in the face of hardship and uncertainty.
It's just us, and about 2400 of our NH friends who secured the sponsorship of our Plymouth NH Rotary Club, the support of former NH Governor John Lynch and the media talents of our NH TV station, WMUR, and IHeart Media. The NH Fishercats AA Baseball Team allowed us to host a Ukrainian benefit game, Granite United Way provided fiscal services, and we were underway under the banner of "NH Relief for Ukraine".
That's us at the Ballgame with our Ukraine fundraising gear, selling 50-50 raffle tickets. Turns out that the lucky winners gave us their winnings. Together with the Fishercats and generous fans, we raised $10,000.
Oh yes, our friend and organizer, Alex Ray, put up $1 Million as a challenge grant, promising a Dollar for Dollar match to get attention and to stimulate giving. We have raised $2.7 Million to fund our work in Poland and Ukraine.
We wire the funds directly to our Polish Rotarian partners based upon our pre-approved schedule of support.
We needed to be certain that 100% of donations were used for the most critical humanitarian aid. To understand and identify priorities, we traveled to Poland and Ukraine and met our Polish and Urkainian Rotarian partners. The land is beautiful and Alex had to experience it first hand. Here he is in a rapeseed field. We had our first iconic image.
Rapeseed fields blanket the agricultural landscape. Can you see the blue-over yellow echo of the Ukrainian flag?
With our partners, we established our priorities for funding: Physical safety, mental and physical health, including nutrition and warmth.
These are pallets of Groat, the hulled kernels of various cereal grains, such as oat, wheat, rye, and barley. Groat is a staple of the Ukrainian diet. So far, we have shipped 700 tons to Relief centers and Orphanages throughout free Ukraine. The picture shows our warehouse in Chelm, Poland
This past winter, with electric power grids under attack and natural gas dependent upon Russia, cold was and existential threat. We bought and delivered sleeping bags and generators to avoid disaster.
Shown: A few of the 10,000 sleeping bags and 50 generators we have provided to relief centers and orphanages.
About our partners
Our partners in Warsaw, Poland, are dedicated to helping their neighboring Ukrainians
In this Picture: One Mayor, one Rotary Club President, two Ukrainian Relief Organization representatives, a Polish Ambassador to Georgia (the country) , a Rotarian in charge of our Child trauma center, and us (Lisa, Alex, Susan and Steve) - It takes a lot of meetings to coordinate for effective relief. The Ukrainians traveled for 8 hours to meet with us.
Commmon Man for Ukraine meets with the Rotary Magazine Editor in Chief - Wen Huang
While vacationing in Berlin, Germany, Wen made a special trip to meet us in Zamosc, Poland. He was impressed by our people to people effort and wrote an article about us for the February 2023 issue. There are 1.3 Milion Rotarians world-wide. That's quite an audience! We have been leveraging this news into more funding so we can continues our work. Can you help?
We're cooking up something more than the Borscht that Alex is sampling here in a refugee center. We are looking for partners world-wide.
We have learned that every material good that is needed in Ukraine is available in Poland and the European Union. Sending clothes, food or other goods overseas is inefficient, red tape laden, subject to graft and time consuming. Better to let trusted partners in Poland and Ukraine do the sourcing, and we concentrate on the fund-raising. We are Rotarians trusting Rotarians. We have a common ethic and standards. "Service above Self" are words we live by.