6-Month Update

It’s difficult to believe, but it has been six months since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine. What a devastating tragedy!

Future Updates

Grace Tea was officially launched a few days after the war began, in February of this year. Our small team of volunteers created the website, opened bank accounts, and started collecting donations within two days. We sensed the urgency to help the victims as fast as possible, anticipating that the worst part of the conflict would end within weeks. In the beginning weeks of the war, we acted fast - collecting well over $100,000 and reaching thousands of desperate people in Ukraine. To update our supporters and provide maximum transparency, we held weekly Zoom calls for anyone who wanted to hear more about our work.

Eventually, weeks turned into months, and our team started to burn out (Grace Tea is run by volunteers, with full-time jobs and responsibilities). The work of running a non-profit, while being emotionally devasted by the events in Ukraine took its toll; we knew we needed a long-term sustainable strategy. So, we stopped holding weekly Zoom calls and started updating our supporters through a newsletter. We also narrowed down the work to fewer volunteers in Ukraine, which was also timely because of fewer funds being donated.

Now, as the conflict drags on beyond half a year and the needs will remain over many years to come, we are preparing ourselves for long-term service to the Ukrainian people. We will continue providing updates every few months via our website (as we are doing here right now). And you can be sure, just as before, that every dollar you donate will end up in the hands of Ukrainian civilians and we will continue operating transparently and without any operational costs (all operating expenses are covered by volunteers).

Our Focus Today

Donations have been reduced to a few hundred dollars a week and we have been forced to limit the number of partners we work with. We have focused on the most desperate parts of Ukraine - those that are either occupied by the Russian army or are located near the front line. These cities are Skadovsk, Berdyansk, and Druzhkivka; they have been devastated and larger non-profits are unable to reach them. We are grateful to have reliable partners in each of these cities, who are able to help the most desperate there with food and medicine.

Although the regular flow of donations has become minimal, we are grateful for several large donations ($10,000+), including a matching grant provided by One Day’s Wages. With ODW’s help, we were able to raise a total of $54,920.60, which we have just received. The purpose of the funds is to purchase goods in Poland, load five semi-trucks full, and deliver them to our partners in Ukraine. Read more about the details of the project here.

For the next several weeks, we will be working with our partners to purchase the goods in Poland and deliver them to the people that need them.

Financial Update

In the past, these financial updates have been shared with weekly Zoom calls and later through a newsletter. Now, we will be providing the updates here, on our website. The goal is to have maximum transparency and for our supporters to know where their donations go.

Image used for the thumbnail of this page is by @libkos