Our hearts continue to break for the people of Ukraine and our fellow Rotarians in that country who are suffering greatly from this tragic, devastating war that has been unleashed upon them.  Our Rotary Foundation immediately responded by setting up a special disaster relief fund (click here), and our fellow Rotarians and clubs kicked into to gear to find ways to show solidarity and help.  With this in mind, I emailed our Club Presidents and asked them to share what their members and clubs have been doing.  Here is their reply.  
Hi Mike!  Last week the CSH Rotary club donated $250 each to World Central Kitchen and ShelterBox. Thank you for your communication on this. We have had a few members make individual donations as well. All the best, Susan Grimes
Hi Mike, I do know that we have had members here in Middlebury make cash donations to the foundation and the Red Cross as well, in support of the Ukraine humanitarian effort.  We also have a member who is trained and has worked with the Red Cross before that is scheduled to go to Poland to assist with their effort.  We also have another member and their spouse who are making plans to travel to either Poland or Ukraine to assist in any way they can.  Bill “Buzz” Kernan
 
Hi Mike,  I am proud to say that our North Conway Rotary Club Board met and approved to send $5K to ShelterBox and $1K to World Central Kitchen this week.  I’m sure other clubs will do something similar.  In next month’s District news, can you come up with a tally on how much our clubs sent for aid?  (Thank you, Kelly) This would be great press.  We sent our own article to the local Conway Daily Sun and posted it on Facebook.  Have a wonderful weekend!    Kelly Drew
 
Boundary Club sent $500.00 to the Red Cross.    Joan Drinkwater
Hi Mike, The Waterbury Rotary Club is planning to fund two Shelter boxes for the Ukrainian Relief Program. So far as my research has gone, it appears ShelterBox is still working out the logistics of the program in Ukraine. If you get any additional information in this area, please let me know. I hope you are doing well.   Cheers, Rock
Text, whiteboardDescription automatically generated
The Lincoln-Woodstock Interact Club created a video (link here: https://fb.watch/bQeFVLk9uy/) which was posted on the Kyiv 155 Interact Page.  They also sent a package to the club and raised $1,000 which was sent to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
 
Lancaster Rotary presented a check for $1000.00 to The Polish Princess Bakery for their fundraiser Bread for Ukraine . In addition, we made a $1000.00 donation to Rotary International's Ukraine Fund.
 
I was informed the next day that WMUR covered this on their morning segment. Our original post reached over 16,000 people. Our normal reach is 50 to 400.  Dave Fuller
Graphical user interface, websiteDescription automatically generated
Hi, Mike. Mad River Valley Rotary club purchased a ShelterBox ($1,000) for the Ukrainian relief effort.
 
On an interesting, somewhat-related note, we previously made a $2,000 grant to AMURTEL, a global relief organization with headquarters in Waitsfield. Our donation related to supporting a microcredit loan program for women in Haiti, but I heard subsequently from Amurtel’s president about how her organization and Rotary found themselves working together in Romania to support Ukrainian refugees. Her note said
 
“Rotary has been organizing logistics for Amurtel. A Rotary member has the hotel where a temporary shelter has been set up in the lobby and Amurtel has set up a Child Friendly Space. They have also helped organize the transport costs for the trainings we are giving to members of the Child Protection Federation members.
 
Amurtel is helping the Rotary plug into the NGO network as they did not have much experience with this. So, a nice partnership”    Pete Colgan
 
Mike as requested; you were looking for info on what our club is doing for the Ukraine refugee crisis. Cambridge Area Rotary is holding 2 fundraisers to support Ukrainians.  
 
The first one is called “Cambridge Area Rotary Ukraine ShelterBox Fundraiser”.  We are collecting funds to purchase ShelterBox kits specifically for the Ukrainian Refugee crisis.   We have already collected $12000 in online and check donations and the club plans to match that with an additional $2000.  We will continue this fundraiser while funds keep coming in at a good pace.  For language and pictures, see the attachments and the links.  The Ukraine ShelterBox Fundraiser page is:
 
The second fundraiser is a learning and support night on 4/1 at 7pm at the Jeffersonville 2nd Congregational Church.   We have 2 Ukrainian speakers coming to speak about the history leading up to the crisis.   The guest speakers will be showing a PowerPoint presentation, followed by a quick presentation from a ShelterBox ambassador.  Afterwards Rotarian April Tuck will be asking audience questions to the guests.   This is a free event, but we will be encouraging guests to make a suggested donation of $10 a person.  Registrations can be made at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5407036 where guests will choose from 1 of 2 meeting, in person or zoom.
Greg Smithers
 
The Stowe Rotary Club contributed $1000 to ShelterBox to help with refugees from Ukraine.