Ukraine Refugee Assistance

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

There's a man on the Kyiv Independent's discord server that has previously donated an Eco-Flow power supply to Dr. Julia, and then went and donated somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000 towards Yaroslav's truck.  He goes by the name "Arctic Raven".

Can i be nerd? 

It was Bluetti power station  and there were a couple other things we bought for her with his help  

I still owe you some of my notes in addition to Bill's stories of our December trip - hopefully, i'll do it next week 

I really like this Raven story and it really fits the name of the pickup for Yarik 

Arctic Raven suggested Lesia (Ukrainika) which was also nice, as we could use quotes from her poetry.  Nothing's stuck yet, and I can't help but think it's because we don't have the vehicle purchased yet.

I'm still thinking about it, too  and I agree that once we decide on a car, a name can come up   the puzzle will come together 

Ok.  Good chat with Annette and Michael from Pickup4Ukraine today.  it is INSANE how our schedules for this run lined up 100% perfectly.  They run a slower pace than we normally do, but they are willing to drive to Dr. Julia-ville and to Yaroslav-chester-ton-field-ville to make the delivery.  There may be as many as 8 other vehicles and drivers together in this convoy.

So, where are we at?  We are shopping.  My location in Ramstein helps them as they don't often have the ability to shop for vehicles that far west.  Once the vehicle is found, we will transfer the money to Pickup4Ukraine, they will handle the purchase and the export registration of the vehicle.  They'll drive said vehicle and we'll link with them at the Polish border in our L200 on our scheduled crossing date and run to the front from there.

Unfortunately this means that the 4-Runner may not be making this journey, and I do feel kind of sad about that.  She does need her rest though.

For our Easter children's run, we have a stop scheduled in Dnipro.  So our children's Easter Chocolates can ride with me in Yaroslav's truck, and we'll get those out when that happens.  Once EVERYTHING is delivered, we're going to navigate the train system and choo-choo it back out of country.

I can not believe we're pulling this off.  The idea that they were planning a run on the same exact day we were, on the ONE time we're dealing with multiple vehicles is just insane to me...

But we're doing it!

ah!  forgot:

The driver from Pickup4Ukraine that will be taking Dr. Julia's truck covers all their own expenses along the way.  They are REALLY helping us out with this one, we're only going to be out of pocket for the cost of the rig and for whatever it costs to get export plates and insurance on it.

Have I mentioned how much I like these guys?

As we speak, they're inquiring into a possible Nissan Pathfinder on our behalf:

https://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=417176153&cn=DE&ft=DIESEL&gn=67686%2C+Mackenbach%2C+Rheinland-Pfalz&isSearchRequest=true&ll=49.475263243037986%2C7.6004791259765625&ms=18700%3B24%3B%3B&p=%3A10000&rd=100&ref=srp&refId=a8c13e77-605b-d9fe-0299-0c305212e42a&s=Car&sb=rel&searchId=a8c13e77-605b-d9fe-0299-0c305212e42a&vc=Car

$8800 euro, manual trans, diesel engine, selectable 4wd, just over 200k kms on the clock.  Fingers crossed it's as good in person as it is in the photos.

If anyone wanted to join in the search, we're looking on Mobile.de.  Postal code is 67686 and we're looking within a 100km radius.

Have a great weekend everyone.  I need to go sit down and pour myself a beer (or 12).  What a week!!  Tomorrow first thing, we'll move donorbox over to host the fundraiser for our kids.  I don't think we can wait on GoFundMe any longer...

Cheers!

That's fantastic news on top of amazing news!! For whatever budget might be left, does PU4U involvement help or hinder any ability to get stuff like a set of AT/RT/MT tires and some basic 'overland' type recovery gear delivered and loaded into it before heading into Ukraine?

In reply to Driven5 :

Unknown as of yet.  Right now our biggest hindrance is my location and the time left in Hungary to do things.  Mrs. Hungary is very much picking up the ball on that one, and VikkiDp is already working on ideas to help spend any surplus we may have.

Here in a minute, I'm going to put two 4x4 type/capable air compressors on order from OffRoad.eu, and I'll be taking a solid look at the tires for Dr. Julia's vehicle (so our minds are very much of the same on this one, I think).  I've spied the current tires on that Pathfinder through the photos in the advertisement and have deemed the brand and tread pattern as "perfectly acceptable" if there is sufficient tire life left.  Failing that, I was taking a solid look at purchasing a set of the BFG KO2 (or KO3, as I understand those have been released now) ATs like I have on my truck.  Those things have shrugged off more abuse, and gotten me through more crap than I'd ever thought I'd put a tire through.  Also under consideration were the MTs from the same manufacturer, the only downside there was the crap snow/ice rating.  Just like when we were shopping for her minivan, something that will grab the earth and spin it under her vehicle come hell or high water was the idea, and with the funds we have donated it looks like we should have some freedom of choice if required.

Also of note, we're giving up on GoFundMe.  It's been 8 days and not a whisper from them at all.  It's our hope that our little operation has grown itself to the point that we can shrug this off and do it on our own. Here's the link to get our children some Easter Chocolates this year:

https://donorbox.org/easter-drive-2025

Donations will still be open until April 6, 2025, and this will run parallel to our Dr. Julia 4x4 fundraiser which is still open.  The onus will be on me to separate the two, as they both go to the same Paypal account, but all donations are labeled by campaign so I should be able to keep out any cross-contamination.  We're going to go back to posting regular updates both here and on social media to help clear up lines of communication, we just need to work to find a method that works across all platforms that we're currently posting on (2 forums, 3 different social media accounts, and 1 website).

Whatever we DO get, is going in the back of the vehicles we purchased though.  I don't care if we have to remove that canopy from that L200 and stack it all "sky high", I 100% intend to take "full artistic freedom" with the vehicles we've purchased (even if our ability to wrench and modify is currently completely hindered).  I've already bought the parts to fix the broken spotlight on Yaroslav's truck, we've got some stickers/decals in mind to make things "personal", I pulled two fire extinguishers from my garage to mount (one in each vehicle), and we're still looking for other "easy to implement" ideas to toss in as well (my 3d printer is making a fuse holder for whatever vehicle Dr. Julia gets as we speak).

Good times, and WHAT a week!

Cheers, everyone.

What a lucky break on the timing Bill! 

Thanks for the updates, keep on kickin' arse :)  

Much love, team!

I was also in active protests today; I wasn't the only one who brought a Ukrainian flag I'll have pictures later.

Should I wait on donating money Bill, until the situation is figured out?

WonkoTheSane said:

What a lucky break on the timing Bill! 

 

Thanks for the updates, keep on kickin' arse :)  

 

Much love, team!

I can not possibly tell you how long it took me to pick my jaw up off the floor when I found out we were planning parallel missions.  It would have been "neat" to run into them at the border under normal circumstances.  As it is now, it's going to be a literal life-saver.

I'm still waiting to hear back as to the condition of this pathfinder, but while we wait I'm scheming ideas to try to get hands on it while I'm in Germany.  Honest to goodness, I'd give just about anything to teleport this thing to a Hotel parking lot in Florida for a good ol fashioned GRM Challenge thrash. 

Cheers!

GIRTHQUAKE said:

I was also in active protests today; I wasn't the only one who brought a Ukrainian flag I'll have pictures later.

Should I wait on donating money Bill, until the situation is figured out?

 

Aw, LOVE it!  And can't wait to see pictures!  Make sure you're staying safe out there.

I think almost everything is sorted.  We can use donor box for both our fundraisers at the same time.  It'll go to the same paypal account, but everything is labeled for sorting.  The only big question now is "how much will we spend on Dr. Julia's vehicle, and what will we spend the remaining money on afterwards".  We have a solid 4-weeks still for fundraising so there is no rush (and I'm sure things WILL develop along the way).  I'll aim to post an update on Monday to show the status of everything we got working at once.

Good times

Hi everyone!!! 

some news from the other side  

Mom's and kid's fund received the transfer last week  Thank you, guys!!!

Here's what we got 

First, we supported Sergei with meds  He asked me to say you all BIG thanks!!!

The second one - we supported three babies with diapers and baby formula 

***Aron*** 

-translation-

Thank you so much for helping us this difficult time, peaceful skies above your heads

***Artem***

-translation-

Vika, good evening, thank you so much for the diapers, we received a package from you. Thank you so much once again.

***Mariya***

-translation-

Good evening! we received the package. Thank you so much for your kindness and help.

Thank you everyone!!! Have a good time!!!

Oh, I LOVE those pictures Vikki!

GRM has more money sitting in your Mothers and Babies account.  I was going to wait until the end of month to transfer it to try to help save on fees, but if you need it sooner please just let me know!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Sorry.  Yesterday I spent the whole day driving to my new (temp) work location out here in Germany.  I have a couple updates, but for now here is the status update I promised you:

You'll of course notice this is very similar to our old format.  I've changed it slightly in an attempt to make it easily referenced on Social media.  Immediately I can see that I need to bump up the font size in some of the boxes, but hey!  It's a start.

Ok.  On the subject of the Pathfinder.  Both Pickup4Ukraine and I have attempted to contact the seller at this point and neither of us have received a response.  The add is still up, and the vehicle is still listed as available, but with the seller radio silent we've decided to start our search back up.  Unfortunately it is SLIM PICKINS out here as it turns out there are a LOT of Germans buying these things and running them in to Ukraine.

What remains is either not 4-door, not a diesel, or not a manual transmission.  If we get desperate, we may work on settling for one of those (maybe we buy an automatic LandCruiser?) but for now we're still hoping against hope.  Which brings me to my next update:

That's the message we woke up to in the medical logistics chats this morning.  I've edited it for social media, but I can tell you that the OP (Tori) is the lady that's helped us get IFAKs to the 25th and helped us get protein bars and water purification tablets to the SF units headed into Kursk.  In chatting amongst ourselves we've decided that we'd like to help if we find ourselves in a position where we are able to.

We're not going to open a fundraiser, and we're not going to skimp on Dr. Julia's vehicle.  She is still the primary benefactor of all the funds we have.  We were thinking that after the purchase of Dr. Julia's vehicle we might assess our situation and see if there was a way we could help fund an ambulance with what's left over.  This is an idea of what we were looking at:

https://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=418134266&asl=true&cn=DE&dam=false&gn=67686%2C+Mackenbach%2C+Rheinland-Pfalz&isSearchRequest=true&ll=49.475263243037986%2C7.6004791259765625&ms=%3B%3B%3BKrankenwagen&p=%3A10000&rd=100&ref=srp&refId=eb231cf6-b63d-e47a-d713-c8a2ab7c39cc&s=Car&sb=rel&searchId=eb231cf6-b63d-e47a-d713-c8a2ab7c39cc&vc=Car

This decision, of course, is not anything "final".  This was very much your efforts that made the purchase of Dr. Julia's vehicle possible and if you have concerns then we want to hear them.  You can hit us up on here or in private.  Honestly, with how difficult even finding our 4x4 for the good doctor is, purchasing an ambulance in addition to that may be 100% impossible (but you know us, we're going to try to do something).

Cheers, everyone!

Ok, I've seriously been hammering on my keyboard and on my phone all day, this is where we're at.

2.5 hours away exists a Pathfinder that looks to be in good condition for 5900 euro (well ad says 5900 euro, their website said 6900 euro).  It has 20k fewer KMs on it, but otherwise looks every bit as good as the one we were looking at for 8800 euro.  That "euro" part is important at this point because there is an exchange rate. It goes as follows:

$6426 to $7515 for the less expensive Pathfinder

$9585 for the original Pathfinder.

And wouldn't you know.  As if on cue, the more expensive pathfinder reached out to Pickup4Ukraine and they have a viewing scheduled tomorrow.  And that is 100% fine, but that doesn't leave us with anything to try to purchase an ambulance with.  If I can work some magic to cover the distance to the far away pathfinder, then we could have as much as $3500 to roll into an ambulance purchase (over half way).

Then comes the next part.  Pickup4Ukraine used their last driver to pilot our Pathfinder purchase.  They report that this run keeps growing and growing, and they're running out of volunteers.  Well, as if on cue my friend "Jack" (from the Budapest to Bamako rally) reached out and wants to drive with me!  When I asked if he was interested in possibly piloting an ambulance, he had the vacation time requested and approved before I even finished the message.

So we have the driver.

AND IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH!!!!!  I sent a message to Tori saying "hey, no promises.  But if I sold a kidney, where would we be delivering that ambulance to?"

Her response?  Kramatorsk.

The same damn city we're already driving to!!!!

I checked the location of the ambulance:  30 minutes from where I'm sitting RIGHT NOW.

So here's where we're at:  We have the driver, we have Pickup4Ukraine to handle the paperwork, we're ALREADY driving to where it's needed....  Man, I don't think the world needs to spell it out any clearer to me than that.  I think we're 100% going to roll any excess funds from Dr. Julia's campaign IMMEDIATELY into the purchase of that ambulance.  IF we can't pull it off, then we can always buy Dr. Julia medical supplies later.  But the iron is hot, and I think it's time we hit it like it's never been hit before.

Here's the link to the campaign:  Dr. Julia 4x4 / Ambulance

Here's a QR code, if you think people will find that easier

I can not believe we're doing this.  We went from 1 Mitsubishi pickup to a 4x4 SUV, to a mother-stinkin AMBULANCE!  ALL at the same TIME!!!!

That's super awesome! I'm not a believer in cosmic alignment, but that's sure some happy coincidence. 

Wow, that's crazy coincident!    Remember these moments when it feels like nothing is lining up :)   I can kick in a cnote for that!

Side question:  I've only ever donated directly via Paypal.  Would it better to use donorbox in this case? 

WonkoTheSane said:

Wow, that's crazy coincident!    Remember these moments when it feels like nothing is lining up :)   I can kick in a cnote for that!

 

Side question:  I've only ever donated directly via Paypal.  Would it better to use donorbox in this case? 

Donor box takes a small percentage, so it's 100% better to shoot it straight to our yahoo paypal account.

In reply to brandonsmash and WonkoTheSane :

It's getting even more insane.  Hopefully I'll have firm news and can make the update later today.  Keep them fingers crossed!

Hell yeah!

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

2.5 hours away exists a Pathfinder that looks to be in good condition for 5900 euro (well ad says 5900 euro, their website said 6900 euro).  It has 20k fewer KMs on it, but otherwise looks every bit as good as the one we were looking at for 8800 euro. 

Sounds like the 2.5h away Pathfinder is a good point for negotiation on the not-2.5h-away Pathfinder.

Driven5 said:

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

2.5 hours away exists a Pathfinder that looks to be in good condition for 5900 euro (well ad says 5900 euro, their website said 6900 euro).  It has 20k fewer KMs on it, but otherwise looks every bit as good as the one we were looking at for 8800 euro. 

Sounds like the 2.5h away Pathfinder is a good point for negotiation on the not-2.5h-away Pathfinder.

I'm doing exactly that as we speak (great minds... )  I went to look at it yesterday and recorded a little video:

I sent that off to Michael and Annette and immediately got the "do not buy" message.  Apparently they have at least two other people looking and are unsure of where they're at or what's being done (I'll tell you, the logistics of this are using up 100% of my ADHD).  The person manning the car lot wasn't even there so I took advantage of the opportunity and said "hey, thanks for letting me look.  There's one in Frankfurt that I'll be looking at (today).  I'll be in touch"

Nevermind, P4U has already purchased that Pathfinder, but this guy doesnt need to know that.

So that's where we are with the Pathfinder.  The expensive one has been purchased, the green one is "acceptable" but honestly there are two issues with the cheap one:

1) The price:  The original ad I saw said 5990euro.  I find that acceptable for this vehicle.  Unfortunately, my ADD brain never lets things go and I super sluthed my way to his website where I saw it listed for 6990 euro.  I find that unacceptable for this vehicle, and I'm betting that's the actual price.  And this brings us nicely to problem #2

2) The tires:  Those tires look to have the traction properties of wet grass on ice in an oil spill.  No way would I ever send such a thing to Dr. Julia.  Pound for pound, I would trust her van on those Blizzaks we sent her LONG before I trusted this think on those slick tires.  That means spending $1000 on a set of BFG KO2 ATs, or a set of Mud Terrains, which brings our price up to $8000

So I'm playing a bit of a game on this one.  I've conveniently sent the lot owner a text message stating the dual price findings and asking which is correct, and in his mind this would be because I'm going to Frankfurt to look at the $8800 Pathfinder, so that's that

Ok, onto the ambulance and the stars that aligned there.

Jack is willing to drive, but I shot off a message to the logistics groups asking for an Ambulance and wouldn't you heckin know a brit popped on and said he had just spied one at a local lot for $3000.  Best thing is, this one hasn't been decommissioned so all the stuff WORKS!  (siren, lights, 220v outlets inside.... EVERYTHING).

I had to fight every urge in my body to slow myself down and do my usual scam checks.  We chatted a bit back and forth, got sidetracked about trackdays (he has a 2004 civic), and yesterday I got the videos from the lot.

Everything looks good, but the rear air suspension.  It appears the lot owners caught the wholesalers as they had just started decommissioning the ambulance and they had cut the rear air suspension controller's wires and removed it from the vehicle (it's in the glove box).

Jack is familiar with such things, and says he can wire it up if we can get it to him before the run.

Ok, next problem.  P4U can not cover a brit ambulance under their umbrella as that would require us to register the ambulance in Germany and that means the german Tuv inspections...

Go back to guy who's helping coordinate and he's willing to work with Jack to put it on export plates.  From there, our charity that's hosting Yaro's 4x4 inside Ukraine can add this to THEIR umbrella, and that should mean we're good across the EU and UA!

Holy heck is this a lot.

Ok, so the short and sweet of it now, is we're using the weekend to bide our time.  I haven't checked our balances yet, but if we plan for the worst case scenario (the expensive Pathfinder) then I'm betting we're about $1500 away from having everything bought.   I'm pushing hard on social media for those donations and they ARE coming in (slowly).  I thought a video might be just the push our operation needs, so I spent the last 5 hours making this little guy:

Feel free to share that with anyone, or on any platforms, where you might think interest exists!

(we're DOIN' this!!!!)

ok, I did the math.  Here's where we're sittin as far as Pathfinder/Ambulance:

Cash on hand $11,342.84 (and INSANE amount!)

Expensive Pathfinder cost (USD):  $9611.71

Remaining cash on hand:  $1731.13

Ambulance cost (USD): $3882.90

Deficit:  $2151.77

So I was  little off in my $1500 estimation as I underestimated the value of the GPB.

Good times \m/

holy hell, things are moving fast.

ok, Pathfinder update:  Cost is 5990 euro (confirmed).  Tires are 1056 euro.

Ambulance is bought by the man in the UK helping us out.  This is good as it's no longer at the dealership, but bad in the sense that I'm feeling pressure to pay him.

I'm going to work politically with P4U to let me jump on the cheaper Pathfinder, OR to let me pay for the expensive one so we can have something set in stone.  Kid gloves will be required as they're already stressed, and my presence in the chat (with my ADHD car searching abilities) has not helped that at all.

Update:

Sorry, normally you guys are shielded from this as I don't have "all day access" to my computer in my hotel room.  Here goes.

We are now the owners of the Black (expensive) Pathfinder.  It is in the hands of their driver/volunteer "Oliver" who does not use phone apps to communicate, so I do not have pictures of the rig from our chat.  I do have an electronic copy of the seller's agreement, the title, and the registration though.  Bank transfer has been made, to P4U and now we are 100% focused on that ambulance.

Here's how we sit:  Oliver talked the seller down to 8000 euro from the original 8800 euro.  With that, our balances are as follows:

Paid:  $8821.94

Have: $2520.90

Cost of Ambulance:  $3882.90

Deficit: $1362

Nothin for it now but to push that fundraiser out and hope it opens some doors!  \m/

Seriously, guys.  This thing is going to be a TANK compared to what she's used to driving.

4-fat tires, 4-wheel drive, 3-row seating, ground clearance!!!!

this is AWESOME!!!!