It has been an interesting couple of months, to say the least. Our team at Ukraine Stories has talked and worked with a variety of people, both inside and outside of Ukraine. While the pace of our work is changing, we are still moving forward and growing with the situation.
Where is our team now?
We have moved around quite a bit since the beginning of the project. Clary Estes, who was previously in Moldova covering the refugee response is back in LA and has taken on more of an editing and marketing role. You can keep an eye out for a couple more articles by her as she finishes up her reporting. Sharmishta Rawat has also taken up editing responsibilities as well.
Ming Holden, our newest team member, took up the baton in Moldova and has been connecting with a number of people in the country so we can continue to have eyes on the ground.
Val Stutz is still in Germany and is continuing his deep dives and his numerous collaboration with our Ukrainian citizen journalists, as well as other partners to better understand the historical precedence of the invasion on all sides. He will be back in DC in June to continue as our DC liaison.
Daria Morris, our social media guru, is still in DC and will be growing our visibility in the coming weeks.
Where has the money gone?
In the last couple of months, we were able to raise a little over $600 to help in our reporting. We decided as a group to send that money to Ukrainian volunteers and some of our citizen journalists up in Bălți, Moldova. This has been a labor of love for everyone involved and as such, we decided that your generous contributions were best shared with those who needed it most: the Ukrainian refugees.
Friends of Moldova has been a priceless resource and partner with us for some of our stories and we decided that we preferred to share what we made with the Ukrainians working with them. Friends of Moldova matched our donation and we were able to pay 17 volunteers with the $1200 we fundraised.
Stories like Ira’s “A strong woman,” Anya’s “One of thousands,” the “Holy cow” story, and Bartosz’s “New life,” were all possible because of the openness and honesty of everyone in Bălți. There are more stories to come, so stay tuned! In the meantime, here are a few photos from the Bălți Refugee Distribution Center, where the volunteers and citizen journalists you have helped support are working.
Please consider supporting our project with a paid subscription or a one-time donation via Venmo or PayPal.
Please also consider donating to Friends of Moldova for the great work they are doing on the ground!