Ukraine Refugee Assistance

I haven't been able to attend the meetings lately due to the timechange (we don't spring ahead until this weekend), but I do try my best to attend Ukraine Defense Support meetings remotely that take place in my hometown of Seattle.

They have literal pallets of supplies they're moving to Ukraine, but put together a small box of gloves and other PPE for Dr. Julia:

And from our friend Katie, her family members "Bill and Kristi" sent over some "fighter food"

Mrs. Hungary is reporting that more things are arriving in my absence as well (AND she's still coordinating the frame repair and truck registration)

Speaking of reg-o.  I need to get on here and tell you all about how we were told to handle the ambulance registration and export.  Luckily I was able to find someone to help.  Jack (of the Bamako run variety) should be having a meeting with that person today.

It's all been such a whirlwind, but it's happenin!

Dnipro last night:

No word yet.

Ladies and gentlemen,  weld repair complete.

I've just received these photos from my friend back in Hungary with the truck.

The frame's been reinforced, the upper shock mount was welded back in position, and the lower shock mount (that I broke during shock removal) has been replaced and welded in.  All told, that cost $120 (That I'll pay).

Mr. Hungary is headed over there now to have a look in person.  Now we need to get it back to the DMV to get it inspected for the temporary license plates.  For that, we may need to call in a favor from a  friend with a tow truck as Mrs. Hungary is not confident enough in her abilities to drive a stick to get that beast across town.

Things are starting to come together \m/

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

Ladies and gentlemen,  weld repair complete.

I've just received these photos from my friend back in Hungary with the truck.

Looks good!!!

I hope (noooo, i know that and i'm sure!!!) everything will be okay 

Can't wait to see the pickup  i think, Yarik as well - i talked to him and told him that he should plan to meet us on a certain date  

Fingers crossed that everything works out!!!

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

Dnipro last night:

We all are shocked, it's impossible to get used to it 

Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but there's a lot of damage

The attacks have intensified over the last couple of weeks, since the "peace" negotiations with p... begun...

Every evening and every night a lot of Shaheds fly over the city, they fly over my house and i can hear them standing in my yard 

Seeing the photos of makes me feel helpless and angry. On the other hand, I'm absolutely flabbergasted by the strength and resolve of the Ukrainian military and people. (To clarify, because otherwise it sounds like a platitude: When the war first started I was hoping for a ton of aid for Ukraine to shut down the invasion within the first months, as I believed there was no way that Ukraine would make it through a winter of a Russian invasion. I was absolutely wrong. To not only hold the line for a single winter but multiples is astonishing.)

In reply to brandonsmash :

I'm feelin ya right now.  This drive is right around the corner and I feel like it can't possibly come soon enough.  I need to be there and doing something.

We're all here together, though.  And none of us are helpless.  We're doing something.

Here's what we got going on in the background.  We've been running the 3d printer off an on as a way to increase our efficiency.  The idea is we're trying to make it work in the background while we work on things that require us to put "hands-on".

So first up was a fuse holder.  The youngest helped me out a bit with this.  I printed one for the 4-Runner in an effort to reduce the size of my spares kit.  And then I printed another for Yaroslav's truck.  Mrs. Hungary is about to print a third for Dr. Julia's Pathfinder:

It's working great for the 4-Runner, but less so for the L200 and the Pathfinder.  Reason is, is that the newer vehicles use a combination of fuses that are this size, and then they use the miniature variant as well.

It's something though.

A friend of mine has a slightly better setup and printed this out for us as a gimmick:

It's flimsy and not going to last out on the front, but I thought it was a neat little thing to remind the guys on the other side that this was personal for us.  Not some faceless organization, but a hand to hand delivery to people we knew.

And then, speaking of gimmicks, I stumbled across a speedloader print file and remembered some photos Yaroslav had sent us of him loading AK mags from a pile of bullets in his hat.  I've never been a fan of speedloaders, and I generally try to avoid searching for gun related stuff out here, but thought this was harmless enough.  Here's the idea:

The idea there is pretty simple.  Pour the bullets in the top there and they're guided into a neat row.  Slide the follower down while pushing up on the mag and "BRRRRRRRRT", you got 30-rounds loaded in a split second.

Like I said, I've always thought of these as "neat" but then again, I was never loading mag after mag.  Maybe in bulk, this think will earn its place.  Either way, if the guys like it, then it's something we can be manufacturing in the background that will add value to our efforts.

Here's the original file for anyone who wants to check it out.  The designer even included a quick video of it in action:

https://www.printables.com/model/265775-ak-magazine-speedloader/comments

One more of the youngest loading fuses, because it's a family effort at this point:

From Yaroslav, the boy we sent the electronic equipment and the 3d printer to:

We might just get these kids through this yet... 🥹

Wish him luck for me.

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

So first up was a fuse holder.  The youngest helped me out a bit with this.  I printed one for the 4-Runner ... It's working great for the 4-Runner, but less so for the L200 and the Pathfinder.  Reason is, is that the newer vehicles use a combination of fuses that are this size, and then they use the miniature variant as well.

First off, that's damned clever. I like very much.

Second off, WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA ... in what way is this problem not tailor-made for a guy with a 3D printer and an unflinching desire to solve problems and help people?

Lemme check on this real quick.

EDIT: Check your email. STL inbound!

DOUBLE EDIT: Why am I emailing you links instead of just posting them here?

Combination ATO and Mini blade fuse holder for Altoids tin

Fuse puller that may fit into that fuse holder

Also, those speed loaders are sweet. I have a similar commercial product for the family .22, and it's a real thumb saver. 

In reply to DarkMonohue :

Perfect!!!

I'll see if Mrs. Hungary is up for firing up the printer.  If not, I'll knock both of those out when I get back

Cheers!

Ok, I think I'm going to drop offline today after we get our ambulance and wrap our social media posts before going radio silent.

First up, we received a Mavic drone battery and some fighter food from "Dave in Seattle".  He's another member of the Ukraine Defense Support org out that way

Sent to us from the Kyiv Independent discord server was a good stack of post cards all the way from Texas.  This is the same person who made them for us on Christmas, and this time she wrote them out for the children:

and holy smokes, did I ever mention we were making trench candles???

I am so far behind...  so yeah, we've been making trench candles!  (and a couple real ones).

It all started when we got a kilo of beeswax from a bee keeper in our village:

That tuna can burned for 2-hours and put out very little to no smoke.

Naturally we had to scale up!

Problem is we ran out of wax super fast

For that, we ordered like 20-kilos of parafin:

Which is basically why I requested a hotel room with a kitchenette on this trip of mine out here.  I brought all the materials with me and have been making these to stay busy while I'm away.

(photo taken with Borscht, to make it extra Ukrainian)

What else...

Oh, back home Mrs. Hungary has been managing local donations:

It wasn't much, but remember those egg boxes we got for our kids last year?  Well in addition to the chocolates we've already bought, Mrs.Hungary was able to get a box of those for every one of our children!

Basically, we've doubled our delivery to our kids compared to last year.

and speaking of kids.  You may remember we've helped this mother with pet food in the past:

I made sure to send her a little bit of dog food on the Christmas run, but it looks like times keep getting tougher.  Vika had some funds from another donor and was able to act quickly.  We'll fill that back up with the $175 I just sent her from our Mother's and Babies fund.  I'll be sure to send more pet food during our visit.

aaaand...

oh!

Our good friend Katie sent us a box of MREs! 

Jack is picking up the ambulance today, and we're still sorting the paperwork for that.

and on my way home from Germany, I've offered to pick up some supplies from a donor that is usually too far out of reach to be of assistance.  They want to send 3 pairs of tires and a "heater", which I'm hoping will all fit in my truck.  Drop-off is in Lviv.

I think that's everything!  I'll send you guy a photo of the ambulance once I get it

Hi everyone!!!

Some news from the other side of the border 

As soon as i wrote this post i got a request from Yarik for some stuff 

In reply to VikkiDp :

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 

It's great we have this fund to react as quickly as we can 

Yarik needed a drone remote controller, knee guards and a little extra body protection (the thing is shrapnel is very dangerous).

On Thursday and Friday all the stuff was ordered, paid for and shipped  and today Yarik received everything  waiting for photos from him 

Thank you, Raven!!! 

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

and speaking of kids.  You may remember we've helped this mother with pet food in the past:

 

I made sure to send her a little bit of dog food on the Christmas run, but it looks like times keep getting tougher.  Vika had some funds from another donor and was able to act quickly.  We'll fill that back up with the $175 I just sent her from our Mother's and Babies fund.  I'll be sure to send more pet food during our visit.

We completely ran out the moms and babies fund to order some stuff for the mom-to-be (i posted about it before, this package was also received).

So i'm gonna use the rest of the Raven's fund to order some pet food and i'm already on it!!!

We keep moving!!!

Keep your fingers crossed, guys, that the stars align and all questions would be solved successfully!!!

Have a good week everyone!!! 

And moving,and moving...

It's official.  Jack has our ambulance!!

Yarik got the video remote controller and extra body protection yesterday 

Today i received the transfer for the moms and kids fund  thank you guys!!! 

So pet food already ordered, paid for and shipped 

Spotted on the shelf in the kids' section of the local library, sharing the pic for whatever it adds to the thread.

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

We'll fill that back up with the $175 I just sent her from our Mother's and Babies fund.

Are you running multiple PayPal accounts to keep the funds straight? I've seen two different email addresses and am not sure which one to use for the Mothers and Babies fund. Or does it make any difference?

Those mag loaders are useful. Printing them in ABS might make them more durable for field use. 

The trench candles are great! 

What supplies do you need immediately, or is funding simply more important at this point? 

Hey guys, mobile and on my mobile but thought I'd pop in real quick:

For the Paypal, we will continue to use gmail for Vikki's "mothers and babies" fund. 

The yahoo account is going to be used to fund our refugee kids and military friends in the future.  We're going to move FROM a "start/stop" sort of fundraising effort and INTO more of a "continuous fund" once we get back.  Any money that goes there now will add to that pool.  this is what I'm hoping will become our official charity in the future.

brandonsmash:  vehicles are already moving on this one now but we should know more when we get back.  I get the feeling that funds are going to be very needed though as we're ALREADY hearing from another drone unit in the 25th airborne that they are in desperate need of a 4x4 vehicle.  for that, we'll use our yahoo paypal.  their requirements are simple though:  diesel and 4wd.... that's it. 

we're talking right now that it might be mrs. hungary that delivers that one.  definitely more to follow.

Hi guys!!!  Hope you're doing well 

Wish us luck and keep us in your mind  our Easter trip has officially started - Bill and Jack are on their way 

Keep your fingers crossed  and toes, and eyes, etc... 

Thanks for the update, and Godspeed to all!

All the appropriate saints are watching over you.

Safe travels!

Hi everyone!!! Hope you're doing well 

I'm here for a minute, just to tell you all WE DID IT!!! i mean WE ALL DID IT TOGETHER!!! 

our Easter mission has officially done!!! and let me say you it was INCREDIBLE!!!

Honestly, I have no idea how Bill's gonna describe how everything was going on - it's really the most difficult part of the trip 

We'll see and waiting for the trip's stories  and i'll add some notes from me - of course!!! 

Have a great week everyone!!!