August 2024
Dear Friends of Ukraine,
Work. There is no end to a soldiers’ work. There is no 8-hour day, or Labor Day—no respite from the reality of war. When you’re on the frontlines standing guard in the early morning hours, you must stay awake and alert, no matter the exhaustion you feel. And you must do so knowing that tomorrow you won’t get a break or go home. Tomorrow is uncertain—there is just the here and now.
This is the image we hold in our minds when our volunteer duties call on us to unload a truck at midnight with gear that someone donated to the cause, or drive to the airport at 5 a.m. to meet a traveler who has volunteered to take bags packed with aid to Europe for us. At critical times in life, like during a war, we must answer the call to get stuff done, regardless of the time, effort and toll it takes.
Read on to learn about the many volunteer-driven initiatives and events our team members spearhead, like our solar panels project. Many of us work independently on distinct projects, but together our efforts raise funds that purchase life-saving equipment, and bring hope to thousands of Ukrainians. This newsletter also contains news from Ukraine and a profile of one of our team members, who selflessly gives her skills to Sunflower Seeds Ukraine. Read on—or read no further and simply click the ’Donate Now!’ button above to help us provide key medical, protective, tactical, and humanitarian aid to Ukrainian people today.
Let’s show Ukrainians our support! Together we are stronger!
Andriy, Natalie, and all of us at
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine
Spread Seeds of Help!
P.S. If you live in Colorado, we hope you’ll join us next weekend at one of two events we’re hosting in Denver and Boulder. See the events section below for more information.
YOUR DONATIONS AT WORK: JULY 2024
During the month of July, we provided 356 Ukrainian Defenders with 118 basic medical sets, 639 protective equipment items, 403 tactical gear items, 207 uniform components, 13 optical devices, 5 drone jammers, including 256 Camelbak hydrator packs, personal water filters, canteens and other water-related equipment you helped us purchase this summer. Currently, there is a high demand for devices that generate or store power, such as diesel generators and solar chargers, due to rolling blackouts caused by strikes on energy infrastructure. Infinite thanks to our donors all over the world for continuing your support! Your contributions are what keeps the supplies flowing where they are needed most.
LET’S SHOW UKRAINIAN KIDS THAT WE CARE!
Every summer, we provide displaced and orphaned children a chance to go to summer camp. This summer, your contributions helped the Plast scouting organization branch organize two summer camps in June and August, with 50 disadvantaged children receiving a subsidy to attend the camps near Rivne in Ukraine. This includes internally displaced kids temporarily living in other parts of the country, children whose parents currently defend their homeland, as well as children who have lost a parent to the war; read more about this effort in our recent blog post.
As air strikes on Ukraine mount, children’s lives are being increasingly disrupted during the school year. And so, we are expanding our “Help Kids Learn!” project to help children attend schools in decent conditions, focusing on a large school in the village of Zdovbytsya in western Ukraine. The school hosts 500 kids including many of those that lost one of their parents to the war, or have been displaced from the now occupied towns in eastern Ukraine. With your help, our team members in Ukraine will improve the bomb shelter, contribute to repairing the heating facility, and assist with classroom modernization. Please show Ukrainian kids the world cares about them–contribute to “Help Kids Learn!”
JOIN US AT AN UPCOMING EVENT!
There are many opportunities to help Ukraine, meet like-minded supporters and celebrate Ukrainian culture. This weekend, you can join us at two events.
On Saturday, September 14, we’ll gather at a warehouse in Denver to pack a shipping container full of medical, protective and humanitarian supplies. We pack such containers three to four times per year, and the more people who come to do the work, the better it goes. Will you sign up today to come help us pack pallets for the next shipment to Ukraine? A number of morning and afternoon volunteer slots are available, and pizza will be provided during lunch.
Then, on Sunday, September 15, join us at the Boulder Theater for what is sure to be a remarkable performance. Immerse yourself in the fundamental elements of sound and soul created by the powerful vocal range of Ukrainian quartet dakhabrakha as they forge a world of unexpected new music rooted in Ukrainian culture. Tickets are still available at https://loom.ly/uhiJ2Cg but they are flying fast—get yours today! And please come meet our team members for a happy hour ahead of the concert starting at 5:30pm at Postino (1468 Pearl St.) near the Boulder Theater. This concert is presented by Sunflower Seeds Ukraine and KGNU Community Radio.
SENDING SOLAR CHARGERS TO UKRAINE
On August 17, more than two dozen volunteers gathered at Sanitas Brewing in Boulder to convert and decorate 30 solar panels into stand-alone USB chargers. The following week, the panels were on their way to Ukraine. We send converted panels to Ukraine so that students, Defenders and civilians can charge devices like cell phones, tablets and field radios when there is no power, an increasingly widespread reality in Ukraine.
Spearheaded by Sunflower Seeds Ukraine volunteer and Rotarian Andrij Lenec, these events are part of a larger movement to bring not just power but hope and a sense of support to panel recipients. Solar Panel Conversion gatherings happen every few months. We hope you’ll join us at the next Solar Panel Conversion event on October 19th at Fairview High School.
Stay up to date with events we host and attend by frequently checking the Events Page on our website.
TEAM MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: CYNDI KENNEDY
Meet Cyndi—Sunflower Seeds’ resident artist, author and volunteer extraordinaire. Born in Denver and now a resident of Lafayette, Cyndi’s connection to Ukraine is through her paternal grandparents, who emigrated to the United States from Rudki, Ukraine, in 1909.
Cyndi’s contributions since joining our team have been immense. She works with a team that goes to hospitals, where they pick up and sort donated medical supplies; she donates the proceeds of her fine-art sales to Sunflower Seeds Ukraine; has found a way to incorporate her stamp art into jewelry that helps raise funds at event tables. At the recent Ukrainian Independence Day Festival, she and her handmade necklaces drew in crowds and earned us more than two drone jammers’ worth of donations.
When asked what distinguishes Sunflower Seeds Ukraine from other volunteer organizations she supports, Cyndi says, “What impresses me about Sunflower Seeds is that they communicate directly with people on the ground in Ukraine and try to meet actual articulated needs. As an all-volunteer organization, there is little waste.” We feel incredibly fortunate to have Cyndi on our team!
To read more about Cyndi, go to our Patreon page, where we post longer profiles of our team members from around the world. There, you also can find exclusive behind-the-scenes videos that show how we get supplies where they’re needed and interviews with recipients of our aid at the front lines.
NEWS FROM UKRAINE: DEADLY AIR STRIKES
August 2024 was one of the deadliest months in Ukraine for civilian casualties in the last 2.5 years. At the end of August, the terrorist state of russia carried out its largest air strike since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, targeting multiple large cities and focusing on destroying energy infrastructure. Only 80% of 127 missiles and 90% of 109 drones were downed, according to the Ukraine Air Force Commander, with the remaining weapons causing widespread destruction and energy blackouts. Just a week later, missile and drone attacks on Lviv left a man as the only survivor in his family after his wife and three daughters were killed, according to Lviv’s mayor Andriy Sadovyi.
This barrage followed one of the deadliest single strikes a day earlier, when more than 50 people were killed and 271 injured by Russian ballistic missiles in Poltava in central Ukraine. In response to the recent strikes, President Zelenskiy again urged Ukraine's allies to step up the supply of air-defense systems and long-range missiles that can defend against russian terror: "Every day of delay, unfortunately, means more lives lost." Now is the time to write your representatives to ask them to send more of the air-defense systems and long-range missiles Zelensky references. There is no time to spare.
HELP US SPREAD THE WORD
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*Misspelling and lower-casing proper names in this newsletter are intentional and used as signs of disdain and disrespect. Similarly, uppercasing of words such as Defenders are intentional and used as signs of respect and appreciation.
Note: Sunflower Seeds Ukraine raises funds as an initiative of Ukrainians of Colorado, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations and gifts are tax deductible to the full extent allowed under IRS regulations and the U.S. law.
