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Meeting Needs Today,
Planting Seeds for Tomorrow
Ukrainians are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as home troops regained the Kharkiv region, but uncertainty remains. As we continue to evacuate children and families out of combat areas and provide humanitarian aid to those sheltering in place, we are planning for the future. When peace is restored, we will help rebuild Ukraine by supporting Ukrainian families, providing professional training on trauma therapy and our models, and continuing our work to find forever families for orphans and children in care.
Kidsave is still rescuing children and families in Ukraine and providing humanitarian aid. Help with the rescue effort and donate today!
Your support provides fuel, supplies, medicine, protective gear, food, shelter, and counseling services to children and families.
We stand with Ukraine.
Our commitment.
Since 2016, Kidsave has been deeply involved in helping older orphans and children languishing in institutionalized care in Ukraine be reunited with family, find adoptive families, or successfully transition into independent living through our Corporate Mentoring Program and our Family Mentoring Program.
When the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, our team on the ground moved immediately into action to help rescue and provide aid to those in war torn cities and get them to safety.
Our commitment has never wavered. In this time of crisis, we continue to support and mentor older teens through our life-changing Corporate Mentoring program and continue to advance child welfare reform by placing children with kin, foster, and adoptive families. We stand with Ukraine now in this time of need and are committed to supporting them into the future as we help rebuild and restore.
Updates From Ukraine
December 25, 2022
Over the last two weeks, Kidsave’s Angels of Hope have been working to deliver humanitarian aid, food, and supplies to as many families as possible in preparation for the holiday. Thanks to a large food donation by MHP, we were able to deliver food for holiday dinners to over 400 families, feeding over 1,200 people.
Because of the cold weather and lack of heat, many in Ukraine have fallen ill, including several of our volunteers. There is an urgent need for medicines, medical supplies, and winter essentials like warm clothing and generators in addition to the constant need for food, water, diapers, and baby food and formula.
We need your help to meet these needs! Please give today to help us provide for children and families in Ukraine!
December 12, 2022
Update From Kidsave Volunteer, Christopher Freisinger
“This week, we delivered a generator to a dialysis and medical treatment center in a city near Mykolaiv. It is the only place providing dialysis treatment for all of Mykolaiv, Kherson, and many surrounding villages. Most of the patients who need dialysis need it a minimum of twice per week. But without power, the center cannot function and get the people the treatment they need. Now that they have this generator, they will be able to give people the life-saving treatment they need.”
When you give to Kidsave Ukraine, your support allows us to continue sourcing and delivering humanitarian aid like generators, medicines and medical supplies, food, water, and warm clothes for winter.
Please give today and help a family in Ukraine this holiday season!
December 6, 2022
As you know, our team in Ukraine has come to be known as the “Angels of Hope” among the people, and it seems that our Angels have someone looking out for them. Over the weekend, our team successfully distributed food kits and humanitarian aid to those sheltering in place in the Odesa region, and right after our volunteers safely left the region, a massive airstrike occurred.
Kidsave’s Angels of Hope face life-threatening situations daily, but they continue to put their lives at risk to help others. Since the start of the war, our team has rescued nearly 30,000 people to safety and delivered nearly 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid.
You can support this effort by giving today! From December 5-8, if we reach our fundraising goal of $20,000, BlueCheck Ukraine will give an additional $50,000 towards our life-saving work in Ukraine!
November 29, 2022
Snow has begun to fall across Ukraine as temperatures continue to drop. Major power outages continue, leaving much of the nation without light or heat. It is becoming increasingly difficult for our team to access internet and cell phone service to remain in touch with each other and their friends and families. Despite all of these challenges, the work continues. Over the last week, Kidsave’s Angels of Hope have evacuated 120 people from the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. These evacuations bring our total number of rescues to 29,726 people. Our team also continues working with We Stand With Ukraine and the World Food Programme to deliver food, humanitarian aid, generators, wood burning stoves, firewood, and additional provisions for winter. With your support, we can continue providing warmth, light, and hope to the people of Ukraine! Please give today.
November 21, 2022
An update from Nata Kravchuk, Kidsave Ukraine:
“Our team has had the opportunity to get to know a large family who was forced to leave the war zone because a cluster shell exploded right next to their house. This family is safe now, but they continue to endure many difficulties and need basic supplies like medicines, clothes, money, and food because everything they had was destroyed.
There are a lot of families like this in Ukraine. Therefore, our team is now actively working to help large families and single mothers who were forced to flee the occupied territories or the war zone and have now moved to Vinnytsia, Western Ukraine, Mizhhirya, Mykolaiv, Kryvyi Rih, etc.
We provide them with food kits, baby food, hygiene supplies, diapers, warm clothes for the winter, and other necessary items. It is difficult for the children and family to start living in a new place where they don’t know anyone; they do not have their friends, their school, or confidence in their safety. While Western Ukraine is significantly safer than the occupied regions, air strikes still happen. They continue to live in fear that their home may also be struck.
That’s why we do everything we can to help our people!”
As we prepare for Thanksgiving here in the United States, our team in Ukraine is working to provide basic necessities to those who have lost everything because of this war. With your support, we can continue providing food, water, medicines, medical supplies, and warm clothing and supplies for winter. Please give today!
November 15, 2022
Ukrainian forces have liberated Kherson, with Russian forces retreating over the weekend. This is a big victory for Ukraine, but there is now a great need for humanitarian aid in this region. Russian checkpoints have intensified across eastern Ukraine, so evacuation has become increasingly difficult. But our team is dedicated and continues to deliver humanitarian aid and supplies to those in need!
Over the next two months, our team will partner with We Stand With Ukraine to deliver winter essentials, home repair kits, wood-burning stoves, and firewood to 500 people in the Mykolaiv region. We want to expand this effort, but we need your support! Please give today.
November 8, 2022
As temperatures begin to fall, Kidsave’s Angels of Hope have partnered with the organization We Stand With Ukraine to begin Project Warm for Winter. This initiative will provide winter essentials such as woodburning stoves, firewood, and blankets as well as home repair kits to fortify damaged homes against the cold. These kits will be distributed to 500 people in the Mykolaiv region–an area that has been devastated by merciless airstrikes throughout the duration of this war.
In addition to these supplies, we are also working to distribute extra humanitarian aid kits to those who are especially vulnerable through the winter such as the elderly, disabled, and families with children. We will continue to distribute humanitarian aid to as many people as possible, but we need your support!
Give your support to Ukraine today and help us continue this life-saving work!
October 31, 2022
Another wave of airstrikes targeted at Ukraine’s power infrastructure took place today. Because of these relentless attacks, thousands are left without consistent electricity and water supply. In partnership with the World Food Programme, Samaritans Purse, We Are Ukraine, and Kidsave OurBorsch, our Angels of Hope continue to deliver life-saving humanitarian aid to those in need. Since the start of the war, our team has delivered over 724 tons of humanitarian aid in Ukraine!
With winter approaching, the need will continue to grow, and we must do everything we can to meet it. We need your support! Please give today to help us continue this life-saving work.
October 18, 2022
Massive airstrikes continue to target Kyiv, a city that is home to more than 2 million people and a place that had been considered safe just weeks ago. These strikes have caused civilian deaths and injuries, power outages, and loss of running water within the city. Kidsave volunteers—including teens from our Corporate Mentoring program—delivered food kits containing enough food to feed a person for four weeks to those sheltering in place.
Our volunteers were also able to deliver donated sanitizers and medical supplies to the hospital in Kyiv and to families with disabled or injured children or family members.
In addition to these humanitarian aid deliveries, our Angels of Hope continue to evacuate children and families away from the hostilities.
Over the last two weeks, we have evacuated 835 people, bringing our total number of rescues to 29,061 people.
We need your support to continue these life-saving efforts! Please give today.
October 10, 2022
A message from Natalia Kravchuk, Acting Director of Kidsave Ukraine:
Ukrainian people around the country woke up this morning to the terrifying sound of explosions from a massive air raid. As scary as it was, it could not compare to the devastation and fear we felt on the 24th of February.
Today’s attacks were leveled at civilians, like so many attacks on our nation before, leaving thousands without power and water. I thank God that I am alive, that our team is safe, and that our armed forces are continuing their heroic work protecting our nation.
These attacks are a cowardly sign of weakness. And Ukrainians are a strong people. We won’t give up. This moment will bring us closer together. We will continue helping and supporting each other. That’s our main strength.
Many of these attacks have targeted Kyiv–a city that has seen much war but had been a refuge for us in the past weeks. We have been advised that the attacks are not over, and we are bracing ourselves, scrambling to find shelter for civilians as best as we can.
We have deployed Kidsave’s Angels of Hope to Kyiv to help evacuate children and families to safety.
We had already been evacuating children and families from the area surrounding the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya. Along with these efforts, will continue to deliver as much food, water, and medicine as we can to those sheltering in place.
Today your support will go straight to helping children and families in Ukraine find safety in the uncertain days ahead.
October 3, 2022
As October dawned, Ukraine successfully reclaimed more territory in the Donetsk region and continues to fight to reclaim Luhansk. The EU has provided additional aid to the Ukrainian military, but Russia continues to threaten nuclear war. Airstrikes continue to barrage much of the nation, and Russian troops are actively trying to overtake the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia. Because of this extreme threat, our team has been evacuating as many people from this region as possible. Over the last week, our team evacuated over 600 people from this region to safety, bringing our total number of rescues since the war began to over 28,000 people.
There are still thousands within Zaporizhzhia and surrounding regions that need to be evacuated, and thousands more who are relying on us for humanitarian aid support. Please give now to support these life-saving efforts.
September 26, 2022
With Ukraine reclaiming more territory, we believe the tide of the war is turning. We are hopeful for the future of Ukraine. But today, while Russia’s nuclear threats stoke more fear, we must continue to evacuate children and families from danger zones. We are primarily evacuating from the Zaporizhzhia region, where the fighting is most intense. We will also continue to provide life-saving humanitarian aid to those sheltering in place in western Ukraine.
The Ukrainian people inspire us, and we are committed to seeing them through this crisis and into the future. Even with promising progress, hostilities continue, and there are thousands in Ukraine counting on us to help them. Airstrikes devastate neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals, and much of the nation is without food, water, and electricity. So far, our team has evacuated 27,731 people and delivered over 642 tons of humanitarian aid.
September 23, 2022
There has been great progress in Ukraine as Ukrainian forces have reclaimed much of the Kharkiv region. While the need is still great, we are grateful and encouraged by this change in the tide. Ukraine is not giving up, and neither are we!
Last week, our team delivered medicine, medical supplies, baby food, formula, diapers, and hygiene supplies to children and their families, thanks to your support. Thousands of children and families still need assistance with food, water, and life-saving medical supplies. Your support is their lifeline. With your help, we work diligently to buy and source donated goods and distribute as much humanitarian aid as possible. So far, our team has delivered 642 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. In addition to these deliveries, our team has been busy conducting rescue and evacuation operations out of the Zhaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. From September 1 to September 18, we successfully evacuated 1,600 children and families.
These rescues bring our total number of evacuations since the war began to over 27,000 people. Send your support to Ukraine Thank you to all who gave last week! We now need 76 more gifts to reach September’s 100-gift goal to maintain our rescues and humanitarian aid deliveries this month.
September 12, 2022
We are now 200 days into rescue operations and humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine. We’ve rescued 26,459 people, including 12,510 children. We have delivered 595 tons of aid to 52 villages, and 35,000 people rely on us for food each week. We partner with organizations on the ground that help with food donations. But our monthly costs for food distribution alone is $100,000. We desperately need continued public support to continue this effort and meet the needs of children and families there.
September 6, 2022
The first week of September should have meant the first week of school for children in Ukraine. Instead, millions are displaced within Ukraine and abroad, forced to flee their homes to escape violence and war.
Right now, many orphans and families with children are finding refuge in western Ukraine, and our team has been working hard to consistently provide for them. This week, thanks to a generous donation by the nonprofit organization Samaritan’s Purse, our team was able to provide 383 kids—43 of whom are orphans—with gift boxes of art and school supplies, coloring books, and educational workbooks. While these materials are no substitute for the formal education they should be receiving, these materials will allow them to continue to learn and express themselves through this chaotic time.
The impact of this devastating war goes far beyond the physical destruction of Ukraine. There is now an entire generation whose lives have been disrupted, their innocence shattered as their home has become a war zone. Kidsave is trying to do everything we can to support the people of Ukraine, from evacuating as many as we can to providing as much life-saving humanitarian aid as possible, but we cannot do these things without continued support. Please give today.
We have rescued 25,299 people from danger zones in Ukraine so far and delivered 594 tons of humanitarian aid.
August 30, 2022
Our team in Ukraine reached an incredible milestone this week. After a long weekend of extensive evacuations out of the Zaporizhzhia region, we have officially rescued 25,299 people.
When we first began this work in February, our first goal was to rescue 200 children. We began evacuating the orphanages first, and then we began transporting families with children. But we just couldn’t stop. There were so many people who needed our help we had to keep going, and the incredible support we received from our community allowed us to do just that.
In addition to our rescues, our team has also delivered over 566.5 tons of humanitarian aid, and we are not stopping there. There are thousands of people in need of food assistance within the Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia oblasts. We are doing everything we can to support them, but with our current resources, we are not able to provide for them all. Please continue to give!
Our greatest needs in Ukraine:
- $22,000 for large, rechargeable flashlights to provide to those without consistent electricity.
- $28,000 to purchase a semi-truck to make large humanitarian aid deliveries.
- $50,000 to purchase winter clothes, shoes, and provisions for orphans in Mykolaiv.
August 24, 2022
A Six Month Update from Natalia Kravchuk, Acting Director, Kidsave Ukraine
Today is a special day for all Ukrainians. With joy in our hearts, we celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Independence of Ukraine, but it is with great pain in our hearts we remember how war came to our home exactly six months ago today. They wanted to break us, conquer us, and take away our freedom. But instead, we have rallied together and united in the fight against the enemy. We fight for our land, traditions, unique culture, for a free life, and peaceful skies for our children in an independent European country!
When the invasion began, Kidsave and its partner organization, the Ukrainian Mentoring Association, immediately began working to protect those most vulnerable. Led by Pavlo Shulha, the Angels of Hope began evacuating orphaned children, families with kids, the disabled, and the elderly.
Our work has never stopped, and thanks to all of our efforts, we have delivered more than 500 tons of humanitarian aid to people who lack food and water, forced to live in basements and bomb shelters in areas where the hostilities haven’t ceased.
In addition to providing humanitarian aid, we have successfully evacuated 24,762 people from towns and villages under attack and occupied territories and delivered them to safety.
We are sincerely glad that even during the war, we continue to find caring families for orphaned children, wise mentors for our talented youth, and new partners for developing and implementing joint mentoring projects. The Mentoring Association programs help more children and teenagers adapt to new realities, believe in themselves, realize their talents, make informed choices, and confidently move towards success.
We believe that only together, thanks to dedicated work and fire in our hearts, we will be able to provide children and youth in Ukraine with a bright and happy future in a free and prosperous country! Happy Independence Day! Glory to Ukraine!
August 16, 2022
Nearly 6 months into the war, Kidsave is just as committed to the people of Ukraine as ever. This week, our team has been conducting rescue and evacuations out of the Zaporizhzhia region. Much of the Zaporizhzhia region is under Russian occupation, but air strikes continue to bombard the surrounding villages. The village of Nikopol has been under fire for the last several days. This has caused increasing concerns regarding the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia. We are trying to evacuate as many people from this region as we can, but our team must navigate around Russian checkpoints. Despite these huge obstacles, our team managed to successfully rescue 225 people in just three days.
In addition to rescue and evacuations, we continue to distribute food and humanitarian aid. This week our team delivered a one-month supply of humanitarian aid to the Mykolaiv region, feeding 32,000 people. So far, our team has rescued 24,148 people and delivered 460 tons of humanitarian aid.
We need your help to continue this life-saving work! Please donate today.
August 9, 2022
Increased hostilities within the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions have led to an increase in evacuations. In just one week, Kidsave’s Angels of Hope have evacuated 643 people to safety, bringing the total number of evacuations up to 23,400 people. When Kidsave first began rescue and evacuation operations in February, our number one priority was orphans; after all of the orphanages had been safely evacuated, we began assisting families with children, women, and elderly and disabled persons.
There are many Ukrainians who have not evacuated; for some, they are unable to evacuate because of medical complications, or for the men of Ukraine, required military service. Others choose not to evacuate to avoid separation from family members. To help those who remain, Kidsave makes humanitarian aid deliveries weekly with medicine, medical equipment, food, water, and hygiene products. Kidsave also provides communities with larger equipment such as generators for electricity whenever possible. So far, Kidsave has delivered 460 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine.
It has been 165 days since Russia invaded Ukraine. We are doing everything we can to help the people of Ukraine, but we need your support to continue this life-saving work! Please donate today.
August 5, 2022
Update from our team in Ukraine
In addition to conducting rescues and evacuations and delivering food and humanitarian aid, our team in Ukraine has remained true to Kidsave’s mission and has worked to find safe and loving homes for orphaned children whenever possible. Because of the ongoing war, international adoptions have been suspended and many domestic adoptions have been paused as well. Despite these challenges, our team recently made a miracle happen for a sibling set of three.
From Olena Shulha, Kidsave staff member in Ukraine:
There was a young girl living in an ordinary family in a small regional center of the Luhansk region. She studied. Then fell in love. She gave birth to the first boy, then the second girl and a year later another girl. Her husband was a violent person, beating her constantly. She and the children left him to live separately. But soon she fell ill with a deadly disease; by the New Year she was gone. Her family was not able to take and raise the children, so they were taken to the Social and Psychological Rehabilitation Center for Children.
The children were later taken in by a foster family, where they had been living for 8 months, in love and care, when the war began. Because of the difficulties of war and the constant shelling and bombing, the family couldn’t leave, and the question of evacuating the children alone arose.
Another foster family in Slavyansk had 10 children who had grown up in their care and left to begin their own families. This couple was more than happy to take the three siblings and give them a safe and loving home. The trip to Slavyansk was not easy for the children, travelling two days in one direction, overnight, with explosions and shelling all night and day. After filling out all the necessary paperwork, we went to pick up the children. When we first met the children, we could see how friendly and kind they are. Despite their young age—being 3, 4, and 6 years old—we found them to be very capable and mature. We explained to them that there was a new family who would take care of them in a safe place, and they were happy to take the trip.
All the way they were telling us stories, drawing, playing, watching cartoons, and falling asleep when tired. We left with a memorable and precious gift—a drawing that they made for us. There is a new life waiting for them, full of interesting moments, love and care, new friends, and discoveries. We pray that their little hearts will never again experience separations, wars, and disappointments. We are happy to be a part of such a responsible mission of saving children.
We need your help to continue this life-saving work! Stand with Ukraine and donate today.
August 3, 2022
Kidsave’s Angels of Hope is continuing full-scale rescue operations from Zaporizhzhia. Since the start of the war, Kidsave’s team of heroes has rescued 22, 781 children and families in Ukraine. We’ve scaled our operation and have delivered 460.69 tons of humanitarian aid to people in desperate need. Last week alone, we provided meals to 30,000 people and each week we continue to provide food for tens of thousands of Ukrainians. Our work will not slow down with your support!
Update July 23, 2022
Over the last 148 days, Kidsave has rescued over 21,720 people from combat zones in Ukraine. These rescues began with just two Kidsave staff members and their families and has since grown into a team of over 200 volunteers, with coordinated efforts in Ukraine, Poland, and the U.S. We are incredibly proud of this huge accomplishment, but the work is far from over. We plan to continue to evacuate those who can and to continue providing food and humanitarian aid to those who cannot evacuate.
We are not giving up! We are committed to the people of Ukraine, but we need your support to continue this life-saving work.
Update July 14, 2022
Update from our team in Ukraine:
Three missiles hit Vinnytsia today, two hit about 500 meters from our safe base, and nine missiles struck Mykolayiv. Our team is looking for a new location to move people and transport. Air strikes are occurring daily, and hostilities have increased in many areas. Earlier this week, Pavel and Olena traveled over 40 hours round trip to rescue 7 orphans from Mykolaiv. Had they not been evacuated, they may have been among the casualties from today’s airstrikes.
We need your help to continue this life-saving work!
The situation in Ukraine is more dire than ever, but we are doing all we can to get as many people to safety as possible. Since the invasion on February 24, Kidsave has rescued 21,432 people and delivered 343 tons of humanitarian aid. We need your help to continue this life-saving work! Please donate today!
Images below in the Gallery.
Update July 8, 2022
We’ve now rescued 21.361 children and families from warzones in Ukraine.
Read the latest update from our team there:
One of Kidsave’s longstanding programs within Ukraine is Corporate Mentoring, a program designed to help youth who are exiting or soon to exit institutional care plans for their futures. The program helps them to understand their interests and plan their careers, increase their confidence in managing the workforce and in society, increase their motivation and readiness to work, and support their basic understanding of money management. Our Corporate Mentoring program in Ukraine has been very successful, and although things look different in this time of war, we continue to support the teens in this program.
On July 2, 2022, eleven of the Corporate Mentoring participants came together with Kidsave staff and volunteers in Kyiv. They met in a peaceful part of the city to share a meal and spend time together. Kidsave leaders, Pavlo and Olena Shulha were there, and the teens were excited to meet them and hear about the Angels of Hope and their rescue operations. The group then shared their experiences within the Corporate Mentoring Program and how it had changed their lives for the better.
The whole group then traveled to visit children living in an institution, where the Corporate Mentoring participants and Kidsave volunteers organized and hosted a picnic for the children. They played board games, soccer, badminton, danced, and had lots of fun together.
Although the war continues, days like this are a precious reminder that there is good, and when we cannot see the good, we must create it.
Check the gallery below for images of the event.
Update: June 30, 2022
As of today, we’ve rescued 21.191 children and families from warzones in Ukraine. Kidsave’s Pavlo Shulha sends this message:
Pain! Tears! Sorrow! For more than a month now, in addition to our native Mykolayiv region, we have been constantly evacuating and providing food and medical care in Lysychansk and Severodonetsk districts! There are villages where hundreds of people had neither bread nor drinking water!
The day before yesterday we drove to rescue children, women, and elderly people. We met two young volunteers near Lysychansk. We were making a decision about which route we should drive as the shelling and bombing had intensified!
They confidently offered to follow them, but we refused, and decided to study the situation thoroughly! Yesterday we received a message from our military friends that those guys got under fire, and today we found out that both of them were killed… I am proud to have met the heroes… I am proud to have known them for a few minutes … I pray for those who save others by risking their lives!
Update: June 22, 2022
Now 119 days into war, Kidsave’s Angels of Hope have rescued 20, 724 children and families in Ukraine.
Our team is providing food to the hardest-hit villages in the Mykolaiv regions. They are now preparing kits for Lysychansk. As the war drudges on and as support wanes, the need only gets greater. Kidsave is in Ukraine for the long haul. Please continue to give to help more families and children there.
Update: June 12, 2022
At Kidsave’s Miracles Gala, we presented the inaugural Angels of Hope to our brave heroes in Ukraine led by Pavlo Shulha. See the moving tribute presentation by Liev Shreiber and Pavlo’s acceptance speech here. As of today, Kidsave’s team has rescued more than 20,500 children and families from war zones.
Kidsave is supporting 72 orphans living in safe houses in Western Ukraine. Recently, Kidsave staff member and Pavlo’s wife Olena and a few volunteers purchased summer clothing and shoes for all of the children. Several children received new shoes thanks to a generous donation from Nike. The children were given paints and told they could decorate their new t-shirts however they wanted. Many chose to paint the Ukrainian flag as well as messages of hope and peace. These young orphans have faced unimaginable challenges in their lives, especially in the last 110 days of war, but they remain optimistic and cheerful.
Your support of Kidsave allows us to continue supporting these orphans as well as thousands of others displaced in Ukraine and those sheltering in place.
Update: June 8, 2022
We reached a major milestone! As of today, we’ve helped 20,180 people, of those 10,144 are children. Our brave team of devoted volunteers are risking their lives to rescue people from combat zones and deliver food to those who can’t leave. They went to a village in Eastern Ukraine last week where lots of families were suffering from dehydration; there was no electricity, no gas, no water in that settlement. Our Angels brought lots of water, two generators and food for these people; they are delivering all these supplies today to help these innocent families to survive.
Angels of Hope visited five villages in Luhansk region today. Driving through dangerous combat areas they were able to deliver food to people who have been barely surviving without any help for more than a month. On their way back they evacuated women and children who could not live in constant fear anymore.
Please continue supporting and thinking of our Angels of Hope!
Update: June 3, 2022
We are nearing the 100th day of war, and our Angels of Hope continue to work nonstop to rescue and evacuate orphans, children, and families and deliver humanitarian aid. Over the last week, our Angels of Hope rescued 374 people and delivered 34 tons of humanitarian aid, bringing the total number of rescues to 19,572 people and the total number of aid delivered to 262 tons. To put that into perspective, that is over 577,600 pounds of food, water, fuel, medical supplies, hygiene products, and other necessities.
Our team is one of the only groups that continues to go into active combat zones to deliver aid and rescue. The people of Ukraine are depending on us to sustain them through this war, but we need your help. Please continue to give so we can continue to save lives in Ukraine.
Update: May 20, 2022
It’s been 13 weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the war continues. As soon as the invasion began, Kidsave shifted all our efforts towards rescue and evacuation and providing humanitarian aid. Since February 24, Kidsave has rescued 18,846 people—orphans, women and children, and those who are elderly or disabled—and has delivered over 230 tons of humanitarian aid.
While our team has been very fortunate to remain safe during this dangerous time, they have encountered many tragedies as they travel in and out of active combat zones. Chris, an American Kidsave volunteer with a medical background, met with the Angels of Hope and conducted a combat medic first aid training course with them. The team was extremely engaged in the training and grateful for Chris’s teaching.
With so many cities under siege and Russian checkpoints established on most major roadways, it has become increasingly difficult to travel in Ukraine and to get food and supplies to the people. Our Angels of Hope—a team that started as three dedicated Kidsave team members and has grown into a team of over 100 volunteers—have been working with other organizations and Kidsave volunteers in Poland to secure and deliver food, but they need your help. Please continue to give.
Update: May 14, 2022
As fuel is harder to source in Ukraine, Kidsave’s team has to be creative and resourceful. They have gathered sunflower oil canisters that they’ve washed out to store gasoline and trek from station to station gather a couple of gallons at a time.
Our American volunteers in Poland gathered 30 canisters of gasoline, rented cargo vehicles, and brought it over to our safe center in Vinnytsia. Sourcing fuel has been an all-hands-on-deck mission this past week.
Although we face a fuel shortage, our team hasn’t stopped bringing essential supplies and food to thousands of people in desperate need daily.
As of today, we’ve rescued 18,605 people from war zones, including 9574 innocent children.
Update: May 8, 2022
This Mother’s Day, women in Ukraine are making the difficult decision to stay at home and risk danger or leaving and facing the uncertainty of being a refugee in a foreign country with their children. Yesterday we provided food to civilians in bomb shelters. Many people don’t want to leave despite the conditions. They cook in the street between bombing and shelling. They face a difficult decision of what’s best for their children in the long run. One mother this weekend decided to send her 6 children with their grandmother to another city where they have relatives, while she and her husband stay in Mykolaiv to work. It was tough to say goodbye, but she did it to keep them safe.
To date, we have rescued 18,117 people from war zones and we are feeding about 8,000 people a day through our deliveries of humanitarian aid and our rescue centers. We are seeing a flood of people coming back into Ukraine, exhausted from the insecurity they are feeling abroad.
Update: May 4, 2022
As calls continue to pour in from civilians begging to be rescued, our team is gearing up for another big mission to evacuate children and families in the Mykolaiv region. Our biggest challenge is sourcing fuel for our vans. Our team and millions of Ukrainian civilians will likely face several weeks of fuel disruptions due to Moscow’s attacks on energy infrastructure, transportation bottlenecks, and a supply cutoff by Russia and Belarus, according to Reuters. As of now we’ve rescued 17,498 civilians from war zones, 9,153 have been children.
Update: April 30, 2022
Now 65 days into the war in Ukraine, our urgency remains. Children, mothers, and families still desperately need our help. We haven’t slowed down. We’ve rescued 17,273 people from dangerous war zones, including 9,067 children. We are vetting calls 24 hours a day from people who are facing unimaginable tragedy in their own backyards as bombs go off and buildings burn around them.
Friday morning on CNN, Kidsave’s CEO and co-founder talked about our efforts and the challenges of orphans who are facing fear and devastation without families. “There’s going to be a tremendous amount of work when this is all over,” she said. “We are already thinking about what we can do after this is over to get kids into families.”
With your continued support, Kidsave will be ready to rebuild, restore families, and place orphans into families when the war is over.
Update: April 27, 2022
As of today, we’ve rescued 16,484 civilians from war zones, 8,780 have been children. We recently evacuated 150 kids from Mykolaiv orphanages to a safe place in Ukraine and made sure they had an Easter celebration. They each got gift baskets filled with fruit, chocolate, wooden eggs and activities, thanks to the hard work of local volunteers who stuffed each basket with love. As of today, we’ve delivered more than 165 tons of humanitarian aid to people in need.
Update: April 24, 2022
Exactly two months into our rescue efforts, we’ve reached a major milestone delivering 15,515 people from war zones in Ukraine. Today we gifted hundreds of Orthodox Easter baskets to children to help them feel some joy and normalcy.
On CNN, actor and activist Liev Schreiber talked with Anderson Cooper about meeting our team in Ukraine. Schreiber said:
“This is an extraordinary guy named Pavlo Shulha and his wife who work in conjunction with an American charity actually called Kidsave. And Kidsave had initially set out to try to rescue 117 of their Kidsave orphans but then they started to work with this guy Pavlo. And Pavlo – between when the war started and now – with him and his wife and their [Kidsave] group have rescued, I think something like over 10,000 displaced women and children.
And this was a very sort of stoic guy and kind of the real Ray Donovan in many respects. Didn’t get emotional about anything he was saying to me until he told me a story about a kid in Culver City who held a bake sale and baked dog biscuits to send the money to Pavlo. And sent Pavlo $160. And when Pavlo told me that story, he just broke into tears. And it was incredibly moving to me that that’s the part that touched him after everything that he’d seen. That getting help from America, knowing that we felt connected, was probably the most powerful thing for him.“
Update: April 22, 2022
In Ukraine, the team is preparing for Orthodox Easter this weekend on April 24. They have packed Easter baskets with chocolates, treats, and activities for hundreds of kids. The team will hand them out to children at the rescue centers and as they make rescues on Sunday. We hope this surprise gift for kids will help them feel a bit of normalcy and joy while their worlds are changing as they know it. As of today, we’ve rescued 13,937 children and families from war zones in Ukraine. We have no plans of stopping.
Update: April 20, 2022
Our team recently faced the line of fire in Mykolaiv. A powerful bomb exploded and hit a nearby store. Thankfully, no one on our team was injured in the blast. Thanks to Kidsave supporters our team now has protective gear including helmets. To date, we have rescued 13,334 people including, 7, 311 children.
Update: April 16, 2022
As of today we’ve rescued 12,698 people, including 7,007 children. We have delivered at least 140 tons of food and humanitarian aid. We recently rescued our youngest person yet, a sweet 7-day-old baby girl and her mother Galina. A special thank you to our very own Olena Shulha, on Kidsave’s team, who made this rescue possible. In her words:
We have known Galina and her family for several years. She is an active volunteer for our organization in helping children and families in need. For nine years, she dreamed of having a second child. As soon as they started thinking about adoption or guardianship, without even waiting, she got pregnant.
When she was eight months pregnant, the war began. We offered Galina to go to a safe place, but due to severe stress, the doctor said that she was in danger of premature birth. Terrible time, constantly going down to the bomb shelter during air raids. But she is a very strong woman. On April 6, her beautiful daughter, Sofiyka, was born.
As soon as Galina and Sofiyka were discharged from the hospital, we agreed to take them to a safe place. We delivered them safely on April 13. Sofiyka’s father is in the military. He joined the army to defend his family. Thank God for trusting such tiny children to be in a safe place during this war. The mission of our Kidsave organization is to be Angels of Hope, and we are happy to do it.
Update: April 15, 2022
As of today, we’ve rescued 11,737 people from combat zones, including 5,542 kids.
We’ve been working to procure and purchase humanitarian aid, and arrange to get it to our team on the ground. They work with and deliver this aid to regional and municipal authorities, who then allocate to people sheltering in place or in the region. We delivered more than 130 tons of humanitarian aid from the border to hospitals and institutions in the combat areas.
We bring food in with rescues, leave it in the region, return with people, move them to the borders and pick up more food and supplies. Our team has been coming to the borders to pick up aid. We’re sourcing from US and Poland; Poland is preferred due to shipping. We feed about 6,000 people a day in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions. We need steady support to purchase these goods.
Update: April 11, 2022
CD media – American Conversations Hosts Christine Dolan and L Todd Wood speak with Randi Thompson of KidSave.org on her team’s efforts to save children in war-torn Ukraine, where they have evacuated over 9,000 orphans. This interview is part of a series on The Fight Against Human Trafficking.
Update: April 10, 2022
When we started this journey 45 days ago, our first goal was to rescue 117 Kidsave kids and families in Ukraine. We’d never imagine the impact we’d make for thousands more. Our brave Angels of Hope have now helped 10,217 people escape danger. Of those, 5,834 have been children. Our team has made multiple trips to combat zones in Mykolaiv, Bashtanka, Snigurivka, Kherson, New Odesa, Ismail, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and many more cities. We’ve delivered people to safe zones in Ukraine and to the borders of Romania, Germany, and Poland. We spoke at length with our brave team in Ukraine. They told stories of their fears and the death and destruction they witnessed. They also sang beautiful songs of hope and comfort.
This week we rescued 856 children and families from war-torn cities in Ukraine. As of today, we’ve rescued 9,850 people, 5,682 children total. By tomorrow we will reach 10,000 rescues. Women and children this week shared horrific stories of surviving for weeks with their children, and not having a place to hide. One woman named Tatiana relived the constant bombings from planes and shattered windows. “We were sitting in a basement scared to be buried alive,” she said. ” I had to leave everything to save my children.” More than anything she was grateful that her children are safe and alive.
Update: April 1, 2022
CALIFORNIA | LIVE
Kidsave Helping Children In Ukraine
MAKING A DIFFERENCE – NBC 7 San Diego – WATCH HERE
Laila speaks with the Co-founder and CEO of the organization rescuing children and families as well as providing humanitarian aid in that country.
Update: April 1, 2022
As of today, Kidsave’s “Angels of Hope” have rescued 7, 594 people, including 4,636 children from war zones in Ukraine. The rescue-es this week traveled from cities in Mykolayiv to Romania and Poland. Currently the greatest need is for humanitarian aid, medicine, insulin, supplies and food staples. We are sending this aid as quickly as we can. Your financial support goes straight to this effort.
Update: March 25, 2022
Our Angels of Hope in Ukraine have not slowed down efforts to rescue children and families from the most dangerous areas in Mykolaiv. Today, our team has rescued 5,926 people. Of those 3,769 are children. In the last few days, we’ve delivered several people to Romania and to safer areas in Ukraine. Many of the people we’re rescuing now have spent nine or more days sheltering with scarce food and water in basements. Many have run desperately after our packed vehicles. Until we can return to get them, they are sheltering in place.
Update: March 21, 2022
Our brave team, known as “Angels of Hope” in Ukraine, risks their lives daily, traversing the most dangerous areas in Mykolaiv and beyond to rescue children and families. According to our boots on the ground, these “Angels” are the only evacuation team still traveling to certain war-torn villages. Last week, we saw drivers and volunteers smiling for the first time in days as they carried 100 infants from a baby orphanage and took them to safety. They say each journey has been more treacherous than the one before. As of today, we’ve rescued 4,809 vulnerable children and families. In the last few days alone, we’ve helped 373 children get to safety.
Update: March 15, 2022
To date we have moved 4035 people from combat zones, the majority are children. We’ve rescued 2626 Children, 328 children from orphanages of which 117 are special needs. Right now, our first priority is to get children living in institutions out of danger zones. The governors of the regions and the child welfare agencies are determining where the children go once they are out of Ukraine. We just want every child safe and accounted for and we are helping however we can.
Update: March 14, 2022
As of today we have moved 3,571 children, women and elderly from war zones. The majority of these people are over the border. A very small percentage are still in route to the border.
We’ve delivered 40 tons of aid that we collected from NGOs at the border to hospitals and rehab centers. Also shipping medical first aid kits (MFAK) to the field to protect our driver and refugees in the combat zone.
Update: March 10, 2022
Tunnel to Towers announces $1M donation to multiple charities to help children of Ukraine. CEO Frank Siller discusses his foundation’s partnership with Kidsave on ‘Fox & Friends.’
Update: March 8, 2022
Kidsave CEO, Randi Thompson, made an appearance on Spectrum News to discuss our rescue efforts in Ukraine.
Spectrum News Interviews Kidsave CEO Randi Thompson | 2022
Update: March 7, 2022
Thus far we have rescued 1,011 people from the combat zone, about 70 percent are children.
Some are heading to Moldova, some to the borders of the Czech Republic, some are going to Germany.
We now have a caravan of 28 vehicles with volunteer drivers through supporters like you. We’ve also delivered 7 tons of humanitarian aid we collected from other NGOs at the border. We’ve delivered aid to hospitals and children’s rehabilitation centers, and people in need en route back to the regions.
Update: Sunday, March 6, 2022, 2:55 pm
Because of your support, we’ve rescued 554 people so far from combat zones in Ukraine. At this moment, 383 of these women and children are en route to the border. We’ve secured seven large vans and one cargo vehicle. We are also working to secure smaller, more nimble vans to traverse fields and back roads. Each rescue and journey is perilous and challenging. We are thankful for the bravery and selflessness of our team and volunteers who continue to make this happen with your support.
Update: Thursday, March 3
We’ve now helped more than 200 kids and families get across the Polish border from Ukraine. Over the next two days, we will rescue 100 more and take them across the border into Slovakia, as the wait at the Polish border is now over 5 days. Once in Slovakia, volunteers are providing shelter and necessities.
As of today, we’ve been able to purchase a reliable 21-seat bus and rent two more. We are actively sourcing additional buses to buy or rent, whatever is available to move kids and families as fast as we can. Your gifts will continue to help us secure transportation and fuel.
Our dedicated team also plans to go to Lviv and Chernivtsi to load up on humanitarian aid, food and medication. They will head back to Mykolaiv to bring supplies and pick up more people for evacuation. It’s a slow, dangerous process, traveling on the back roads to avoid fighting Russian troops.
We are in awe at the bravery and dedication of our team in Ukraine and truly grateful to the people and the governments and citizens of neighboring countries.
The situation changes moment by moment, and we quickly adjust our efforts based on needs. Our goal is to get at least 1,000 children and families out of the conflict areas in the coming weeks.
News
This holiday season, we proved that Christmas Miracles can still happen even in the midst of war. On Saint Nicholas Day, Kidsave’s Mentoring Association hosted a Christmas party for the teens and their mentors in the program at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kyiv.
“My biggest dream is for this war to end. I dream of a peaceful sky, for children and innocent people not to suffer, and for the brave men who protect us and grant us peace and comfort are safe and do not die.”
Working with Kidsave from the beginning Jon Kolasinski with his company Markit has sourced and provided clothing, shoes, food to many and shelter for the Kidsave Angels of Hope. Now as winter descends on Ukraine, they work to provide generators that bring heat and light to many Ukrainians without power.
All across Ukraine, a darkness has fallen. The nation’s energy facilities have sustained heavy damage from constant Russian airstrikes, leaving a million Ukrainian citizens without consistent power and heat.
The Pathway to Success program helps older orphans learn about potential careers, education opportunities, money management and budgeting, and other important life skills...
Videos
Kidsave Co-Founder and CEO Randi Thompson appeared on CNN to discuss our life-saving work and the incredible need in Ukraine.
Watch video updates on YouTube from our team on the ground and stories of the families we are moving to safety.
Gallery
December 15-25, 2022
Kidsave’s Angels of Hope delivered food and supplies for holiday dinners to over 400 families, providing enough food to feed 1,200 people for Christmas.
December 5-12, 2022
Kidsave volunteers Christopher and Irena delivered a generator to a dialysis and medical treatment center in Mykolaiv. It is the only place providing dialysis treatment in Mykolaiv, Kherson, and many surrounding villages. Without power, the center cannot function, but now that they have this generator, they will be able to give people the life-saving treatment they need.
