Love in Action Update - July 2024
AUGUST 2024 update
July 2024 update
Holiday party at the City of Vynohradiv Orphanage in Vynohradiv, Transcarpathian region, December 2023.
Dear Friends,
We would like to update you on the continuing efforts of the Love in Action-Ukraine (LIA-U) volunteer team to help those harmed by the war in Ukraine. LIA was formed in June 2022 in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. Three Washington DC area mindfulness communities practicing in the Plum Village tradition (Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center, Washington Mindfulness Community, and the Opening Heart Mindfulness Community) came together to establish Love in Action, a project that is a concrete manifestation of their engaged practice.
In the beginning, LIA’s prime concern was assisting refugees from Ukraine who had fled to the Czech Republic, including many African students who had been studying at Ukrainian universities. Since September 2023, the primary focus has been to work with Czech volunteers and nonprofits to offer humanitarian assistance in some of the most devastated areas of Ukraine to babies, their mothers, children, seniors, and those with disabilities.
Over the six-month period ending on March 31, 2024, LIA-U funds have been used to purchase 16,000 baby diapers, 6,000 sanitary pads, as well as baby formula, incontinence pads for seniors, food aid packages, warm clothes, infant strollers, crutches and canes, stoves, and gas cartridges.
Volunteer Czech Drivers from Cesty pomoci (A Way of Help) on the road to eastern Ukraine.
These supplies have been delivered by fearless Czech volunteer drivers and non-profit staff to hospitals, orphanages, churches, and community associations, often near the front lines. Truckloads of supplies are driven more than a thousand miles from Prague, through Slovakia or Poland, to Eastern Ukraine, where the need is greatest. An informal communication network passes on updated information about local needs through a network of small Czech voluntary organizations. No supplies have been delivered to or through the military or any other fighting forces.
Czech nonprofit Cesta naděje života (The Path to a Better Life) delivering basic hygiene bags to towns in the Donetsk region.
The drivers are becoming experts in a range of truck repairs, through necessity becoming self-taught auto-mechanics. Because of the road conditions and the closeness of the fighting, delivering supplies is increasingly dangerous. Some drivers have started wearing flak jackets, even though they would prefer not to, since they feel that their human-to-human solidarity and humanity is more tangible without the military gear. (Click on the links to see drivers from the Czech Republic thanking LIA-U as they deliver hygiene supplies in Zaporozhia and Donbas.)
Mother in Zhitomyr receives dried milk, diapers, and other supplies from Cesty pomoci (A Way of Help).
Since LIA-U began in June of 2022, more than $50,000 has been raised from about 300 donors. Most have been members of the international Plum Village community. Many are members of our three founding mindfulness communities and our seven supporting sanghas in North America and Europe. Others have heard about LIA-U from announcements, public talks, and by word of mouth spreading from community to community. There have been a few large donations, but it’s continued to be mostly small amounts.
The harsh truth is that fundraising for humanitarian aid to Ukraine has become much harder over the past six months, for LIA-U as well as for other humanitarian efforts. As the fighting has increased and spread, the world’s attention has shifted. It is rarely the lead story on Western media outlets, and even when it is, reporters rarely talk about the needs of the elderly trapped in bomb shelters without incontinence pads, or about the babies who did not have warm clothes during winter.
Our Czech colleagues tell us repeatedly how our support keeps them going in the face of huge shortages and great sufferings. We are buying desperately-needed supplies, and we are also sending energy to the teams who are standing like bodhisattvas, shining lights in the darkness.
The war is grinding on. We humbly ask for your support and that you give generously to make sure this partnership keeps working. If you are able to, please become a regular or monthly donor so that our funding stream is stable and continuous.
(Donations are tax-deductible for US taxpayers to the fullest extent allowed by law.)
Blessings from the Love in Action Team
Volunteers: Annie Mahon, Jindra Cekan/ova, Katerina Stiebitz, Mitchell Ratner, and Nigel Twose
Founding Sanghas: Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center, Washington Mindfulness Community, Opening Heart Mindfulness Community
Supporting Sanghas: Charlotte Community of Mindfulness, Charlotte, North Carolina; Inter-Sangha des Cistes, Montpellier, France; Lakeside Buddha Sangha, Evanston, Illinois; Open Heart Sangha, San Diego, California; Ottawa Pagoda Sangha, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; River Valley Sangha, Northampton, Massachusetts
Learn how to become a Love in Action Supporting Sangha
For more information, contact us at LoveInActionUkraineTeam@gmail.com
More photos below.
Cesty pomoci (A Way of Help) organization delivering supplies in Dnipro.
Off-loading clothing and other supplies in Dnipro.
Transferring crutches and other medical supplies to a partner nonprofit in Ukraine.