The Project Kesher Ukraine (PKU) staff celebrated Purim to the best of their ability, reading Megilat Esther virtually together and raising a glass of wine from wherever they are, amidst their humanitarian efforts.

Project Kesher has supported 130 Ukrainian women and their families whose lives have been uprooted, now refugees throughout Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Moldova, Georgia, and Bulgaria. $42,527 in grants have been distributed to women traveling with children, the elderly, and people with disabilities who are evacuating and approaching borders without money or paperwork. Mini grants of cash are actually lifesaving, as this helps women take care of their families independently, and with dignity, keeping them all safe. Here are a few stories from families we supported in the last week:

Tatiana and her husband (55 years old) live with her older brother with special needs Alexander, 80 years old. On March 8, 2022 this year they were in their house in the village of Nalivaykovka, Makarov district, Kyiv region, during the shelling. A shell hit the house, taking out the roof and causing a fire. They managed to escape but had no chance to save anything else but themselves. They lost all of their documents, credit cards and belongings. Their house is irreparable.

Christina is a hairdresser, a single mother with a 10-year daughter who fled from Kyiv on March 15, 2022. They are now refugees in Poland, alone. Six months ago she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She should have been undergoing further medical examination last month and no treatment was available. She will now have to deal with this while looking for work and taking care of her child in a foreign country.

Project Kesher continues supporting evacuations by bus from Kyiv, Lviv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Ternopil. This week alone, this project evacuated 900 people and are making temporary arrangements for those in need, including providing temporary places to stay, groceries and floor mattresses upon arrival.

Now that the intensity of evacuations from Kyiv has decreased, the bus company managed to establish a system to assist volunteer groups across Ukraine that are engaged in the evacuation of refugees from areas under fire. A few stories from the Kyiv-based bus company taking heroic trips to evacuate Ukrainians:

Sent buses from Kyiv to Lviv and Ternopil, evacuating more than 700 people.
Supported evacuation of people from Chernihiv and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Set up a headquarters and warehouse in Chernihiv to provide medicine, equipment, products, and hot food to the area, and humanitarian assistance at metro stations.
Evacuation from and delivery of products, medicines, and food to Irpin.
A group helps evacuate people from Ternopil to the Polish border for free, daily, up to 20 buses.
A group provides humanitarian aid to residents of the Kyizian region, settlements which are very difficult to reach due to destroyed bridges.

Thank you for your support.