Lukas and Liliana are high school students from New York who have been invested in aiding Ukraine during this time of crisis. After Russia invaded the country in February of 2022, families have had to shelter while their kids could not attend regular school due to safety concerns. Lukas and Liliana will share their volunteering experiences as well as information on their virtual penpalship that will connect American and Ukrainian high schoolers and allow them to actively communicate via zoom, email, or phone calls.
Our three pronged plan:
In person aid through volunteering
The first part of our plan is to personally volunteer for organizations and groups that support the Ukrainian relief effort. We volunteer with local and non local organizations and offer our help to support their causes.
Real time connecting through virtual penpalship
The second part of our plan is to create a penpalship program for Ukrainian teens and American teens through various platforms such as Zoom, WhatsApp, and email. We want this program to encourage real-life connections between teens of different backgrounds and allow Ukrainian kids to feel more connected to the outside world, and American kids to connect with other cultures and support out cause.
Charitable donations through pay pal
The third part of our plan is to encourage charitable donations through PayPal and give this money to victims who are in urgent need of help. In particular, we have fundraised for the Ukraine Reconstruction Fund as well as volunteered for the Blue and Yellow Cross, which are two non-profit organizations. We have worked with organizations to survey families in Ukraine and understand how to allocate these funds adequately and promptly.
Winter 2022 - Ukraine Reconstruction Fund
In December of 2022, Lukas and Liliana raised twenty-five hundred dollars for the Ukraine Reconstruction Fund, a non-profit organization based on Facebook. They fundraised by sending out emails to their community and raising awareness at their school.
The organizations’ funds are used for families, education for students and medical expenses of Ukraine citizens injured by Russian military actions in Ukraine .
Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/UkraineReconstructionFund2022
Summer 2023 - Blue and Yellow Cross: Cologne, Germany
In June of 2023, Lukas and Liliana volunteered for the Blue and Yellow Cross Organization in Cologne, Germany. Through their volunteering efforts, they were able to participate in packaging necessities to be sent directly to Ukraine in trucks. They also worked on a database to catalog the resources allocated to Ukraine in the past and track which goods were urgently needed by Ukrainians in the future.
To learn about the Blue and Yellow Cross, visit the following link: https://www.bgk-verein.de/
Virtual Penpalship
Lukas and Liliana worked to connect high school students from Ukraine and the United States through applications such as Zoom, whats app, and email in order to provide a safe space to communicate with each other about their experiences.
Media
Lukas and Liliana’s efforts and Initiative were included in their high school publication
