Ukraine Refugee Assistance

Bill, I've got a little something to send your way. What's the direct PayPal link if that is the preferred method to avoid fees?

bbbbRASS said:

Bill, I've got a little something to send your way. What's the direct PayPal link if that is the preferred method to avoid fees?

Oh man, much appreciated!  It's "willgrow" and the number 3 (all one blob) at the yahoo mailz dot the comms 

WonkoTheSane said:

Hell yeah!

Quoting because this is exactly what I said when I woke up this morning to check our balance sheet.

If my math is correct (and I have the bank roll to fix it if it isn't), we are now $978.63 away from the full price of that ambulance!

We have now broken through the $1000 barrier. \m/

My fellow Grassrooters, we now have only $632.51 to go!!!

The ambulance is now moved to the purchasing man's house.  The Pathfinder has named itself and is now called "Aleksandra" ("Protector of man").  Aaaaaaaaaaand, I had dinner with the folks at P4U on Sunday.  The official vehicle count for this convoy is 12, and three of those our ours! \m/

Right now we're trying to work out how we're going to keep this convoy together.  12 rigs is a LOT to try to keep organized, and not all the drivers are experienced.  We're discussing splitting it into smaller groups with one experienced person leading and following and then putting the two least experienced people in the middle

This is insane...  definitely more to follow.

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

I regret that I have but one like to give..

WonkoTheSane said:

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

I regret that I have but one like to give..

Oh man, that's perfect

For what it's worth, we're still helping out Pickup4Ukraine.  My location is slightly northwest of where they usually operate, as such a 40-minute drive for me is a 1hr and 40min drive for them.  I just went to look at a potential Mazda Pickup (4x4, diesel, etc), but it wasn't up to snuff.  I gave them a full report though and the ball is in their court to make a move if they decide they're interested.

This is kind of one of those things where we think WE'RE busy when we get close to a run, but these guys still have 4 vehicles to purchase and that run date isn't getting any further away.

insane...

Here's our weekly update and it's already outdated, a man named Kirk donated $21 which brings us "danger close" to being in the $500 territory \m/

(Thank you Kirk!!!!)

I can not possibly explain how my brain can not fathom that all of this is real.  I just don't have the words to express how impossibly "Grassroots" this all is.  Gary from the 1st Medical Battalion just wrote and the guy is over the moon at the idea that he's actually getting an ambulance!!!  He's asking how we did it, and I just can't find the words to accurately translate it into "non-forum" language for the guy!

Bill, I just donated towards the ambulance fund but PayPal apparently didn't include the note I attached.  Just wanted to let you know it came from a GRM board denizen.  

Same here. A little more is headed your way. I also got excited and failed to mention that it's for the ambulance.

In reply to stuart in mn, and DarkMonohue:

Guys... 🥹

That did it.

I've done the math... checked it twice...

We are FUNDED!!!!!!

We're buying an ambulance!!!!

An actual AMBULANCE!!!!!! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

Holy smokes.

That's a good feeling.

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

 

Deficit: $1362

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

Just sent some cash your way. 

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to stuart in mn, and DarkMonohue:

Guys... 🥹

That did it.

I've done the math... checked it twice...

We are FUNDED!!!!!!

We're buying an ambulance!!!!

An actual AMBULANCE!!!!!! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

Awesome news.  Thanks for all the hard work Bill.  

DarkMonohue said:

Holy smokes.

That's a good feeling.

I seriously wanted to run outside and scream!

JFW75 said:

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

 

Deficit: $1362

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

Just sent some cash your way. 

Got it, sir!  Thank you!!

Flynlow said:

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to stuart in mn, and DarkMonohue:

Guys... 🥹

That did it.

I've done the math... checked it twice...

We are FUNDED!!!!!!

We're buying an ambulance!!!!

An actual AMBULANCE!!!!!! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

Awesome news.  Thanks for all the hard work Bill.  

Thanks man.  I can not tell you how absolutely handcuffed to my phone and laptop I've been this entire last week.  I may or may not have fallen asleep last night in the middle of my second gin and tonic while streaming youtube videos in bed.

I woke up today felling like a million dang bucks

Mrs. Hungary is at it too.  She withdrew about half our money and started buying our Easter chocolates:

Good times

Everyone, meet "Gary" (The recipient of the ambulance)

https://youtu.be/j62dknNFfWE?si=vipd9w-ibqdcqED1 

I had a call with him on the day we found out our ambulance was funded and if I told you he was "over the moon" to learn that he had an ambulance headed his way, it'd be the understatement of the century.  Honest to goodness, he was so damn excited and you could tell he was the sort of person that doesn't have a bad bone in his body.  We talked about EVERYTHING.  His situation, the event that lead to this (talking the medics in the field here), other happenings, etc.

Tori tells me he was hit with direct tank fire earlier in the war, and walked away from it thinking it was hilarious (and I believe her).

He told me about his experience waiting at the Ukraine border three years ago while he tried to come to terms with what he was about to do.  He said at that time he figured he had about 6-months left to live, crossed anyway, and drove east.  He's been there ever since.

The guy is just legendary amounts of amazing, and I'm couldn't think of a better place for this ambulance to go.

I watched some of Gary's videos, I like the guy.  

I noticed in his comments he mentioned the Anna From Ukraine channel, she provides daily reports on what's going on in country:  https://www.youtube.com/@AnnafromUkraine/videos

stuart in mn said:

I watched some of Gary's videos, I like the guy.  

I noticed in his comments he mentioned the Anna From Ukraine channel, she provides daily reports on what's going on in country:  https://www.youtube.com/@AnnafromUkraine/videos

Oh man, on the phone call I decided I immediately liked Gary.  I don't think that guy has a bad bone in his body.

Something I thought I mentioned about that call, but looks like I forgot:

So Gary told me that two days before our phone call he had purchased some specific brand of stretcher system, and an oxygen bottle (complete with system) for an ambulance.  I guess he was being asked why he was spending so much money on ambulance crap when they didn't have an ambulance.

"hey, we got to.  You never know!" was his reply.

So i sent over the videos of the ambulance that were sent to me.  They went over the exterior, all of the interior (cab and back portion), and then a test drive. It turns out that Gary noticed that our ambulance has the mounts for the stretcher system he's purchased AND has facilities for the oxygen system he purchased...

I don't want to jinx it, but it is REALLY looking like the stars aligned perfectly for us on this one...

And speaking of Anna, I found out she has a website too!  https://annafromukraine.com/en-usd/

So, has there ever been an ambulance at the $2k challenge? 

Just asking.

Hey all, lots of headaches being worked on at the moment concerning the legal aspects and route planning for these vehicles.  As I'm sure you've been able to track, the attacks have increased recently (I saw there were over 90 drones shot down over Ukraine last night).  Gary called my phone the day before yesterday as a friend of his just made it through a strike on her medical facility and lost an ambulance in the process (Gary said it was around a $20,000 unit).  I had video on my phone but hadn't uploaded it for posting on the internet yet.  Looks like Gary went and took care of that for me:

The voice you hear in the video of the ambulance tour is "Jen". She's an American medic and Gary asked if he could put her in touch with us.

I'll get to our response in a second, but I've been mulling this over in my brain for a while now.  Pickup4Ukraine is a non-profit organization in Germany, and I think I had misinterpreted how they're able to help in the past (based off of what they told me they do).  With that, I've been thinking that we enjoy more freedom as something that operates under name alone.  I'm beginning to think now about what it might mean for us to register as a legitimate non-profit organization in my home state of Washington...

The reason I'm mulling this over now is because of our recent success and how people surrounding us are viewing what we've just done.  Gary has no idea the stars that aligned to get this particular ambulance to him.  He just knows that he put a request out, and we showed up with the ideal unit out of nowhere...  And rolling from that and right into Jen (she hasn't contacted me yet), I can see that the "need" in this area is never really going to end.

so I'm chewing on that right now.  The process doesn't seem any more difficult than some of the other crazy things I've done.  I think by now we're organized enough on our business end for the tax man...  Nothing would change on the Ukraine side, as it's similar charity organizations that provide us with their cover to allow us to cross the border and do the work we do...

Anyhoo.  I told Gary that anytime he calls, the answer is always going to be "yes".  We just need to figure out how we're going to do it.  I'll be waiting for Jen to get in touch.

brandonsmash said:

So, has there ever been an ambulance at the $2k challenge? 

Just asking.

 

I 100% think that needs to happen.

Bonus points if the siren works

In reply to brandonsmash :

Hi everyone!!!  Hope you're doing well 

Long time no see  although to be honest i read all the updates here 

Ugh, there's so much going on, i can't even imagine howww ??? to describe it and where??? to start 

organizing and coordinating the trip(there are a lot of us on this trip), paperwork, planning the route, and so on 

as Bill said earlier, it's completely insane, but we're doing it and we're gonna do it!!! so guys, wish us luck and cross your fingers, toes, etc. 

Thank you for your support!!!

Well, we don't stop for a second 

in one of the groups asking for support for the expecting mom with some baby items.

Can we help? We certainly can!!!

Ordered, picked up and shipped 

Shannon will get it all and give it to the mom-to-be 

And one more good news 

Thanks to our good friend Arctic Raven we have the emergency fund to support Dr.Julia, Yarik or Gary in case if they need anything urgent  or we'll buy what they need and bring it with us 

Thank you, man!!!