Walnut Creek's Polish School to hold fundraiser supporting Ukrainian refugees; here's how to help
"We want to do anything & everything we can in order to raise awareness and help these people out who've been left with nothing."
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- As the situation in Ukraine intensifies so too does the humanitarian crisis and the need for assistance.
"We feel helpless being thousands and thousands of miles away," said Patryk Grobelny, a volunteer with the Polish School in Walnut Creek.
"All those coming into the country with nothing but a backpack on their back and needing to start a new life," he said, referring the stream of people fleeing Ukraine to neighboring Poland.
The Polish School is hosting an event at Larkey Park in Walnut Creek where people can donate and come show support to Ukraine on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 3p.m.
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"These people need our help," said Grobelny. "So we want to do anything and everything we can in order to raise awareness and help these people out who've been left with nothing at this point."
"These are things that the refugees need - diapers and just basic necessities," said Igor Markov, with Nova Ukraine, a nonprofit based out of Palo Alto.
Donations to aid those in crisis can be made on the Nova Ukraine website. Markov is also urging people working in tech to take note; a donation might go farther than expected.
"Google, Netflix, Apple - there's a number of companies that match donations," said Markov, requesting people hold off on clothing and other physical donations because they have too much coming in.
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"It's overwhelming," said Markov. "It's very difficult to ship things to Ukraine right now, but I think we'll figure out ways."
And there are ways to support Ukraine simply by showing up. Hundreds of people have been coming out to recent rallies across the Bay Area.
"This is very impressive and I think this shows it's very important," said Markov.
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Another rally will be held at the Ferry Building at noon on Saturday Feb. 26.
Markov also added that Crypto donations are also welcome online.
"Crypto does allow more efficient transfers in some cases, we've already had about a dozen donations in Crypto," Markov said.
For those who can't attend in person but would like to make a donation, there is an option to make a donation via Venmo with the comment "Ukraine" to Iwona (@Ryszard-Urbaniak) or Karolina (@KarolinaMancino).
Father Vitaliy will donate the money raised to Jesuit Refugee Service.
