In Gratitude: A List of Charities

(A version of this post also appears as a Kickstarter update.)

On Saturday, September 30, 2023, 1,072 backers pledged $23,567 to help bring Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora to life. Our Kickstarter backers included people from all over the world!

We are so grateful for all the ways that people showed their support over the past month: becoming backers, sharing posts, telling friends, engaging with our updates. Together we created a global community of readers for these thirty fantastic stories, and we are so excited for people to read them.

Many people asked us about other ways to help the people in Ukraine. Kickstarter requires all funds raised to facilitate the project, and with the funds raised here we’ll be producing a beautiful book and sharing stories of Ukrainian culture, art, and resilience around the world. Again, thank you.

Our team understands the broad range of ways the Ukrainian people still need help, and we are committed to do what we can.

So we asked our authors and translators about the charities they work with and trust, and I want to share that list with you now:

Dobrobrat:

Dobrobat is a volunteer construction battalion that assists the survivors in the de-occupied territories in the urgent restoration of housing and social infrastructure.

http://dobrobat.in.ua/

Come Back Alive:

Protect the Sky is a joint charitable project organized by the charity foundation Come Back Alive and the Ukrainian postal company Nova Post. The project is designed to help Air Defense reduce their reaction time from minutes to seconds.

http://dobrobat.in.ua/

Unite with Ukraine:

Funds raised are being used to supply an evolving range of needs to the brave men and women on the front line, including: individual first aid kits; bullet-proof vests and helmets; night-vision goggles; and communication equipment and fuel, among other things.

https://unitewithukraine.com/

Chytomo magazine:

CHYTOMO is the largest independent media covering publishing and contemporary literary and cultural processes in Ukraine.

https://chytomo.com/en/

UA Animals:

Since the beginning of the full scale war, UA Animals has actively been helping animals within war zones: evacuate, provide feed and medicines for shelters.

https://uanimals.org/en/

Razom:

In a very short time, Razom has built an inspiring network of partners, volunteers, and donors that fuel the community, and consistently activate people in the United States and Ukraine to help Ukraine unlock its potential. Their projects are designed to have tangible, immediate manifestations of impact and provide opportunities for scalable growth ensuring that impact lasts.

Razom – Together we are Ukraine (razomforukraine.org)

United24:

UNITED24 is designed for collaboration with charities, partners, donors, and public figures worldwide. Their goal is to establish an efficient work process that brings Ukraine’s victory closer.

https://u24.gov.ua/projects

If you are looking for places to lend support, these are just a few of the many organizations that exist to help

Thank you to all the people working tirelessly in Ukraine and in other parts of the world: healing the wounded, tending to the dying, comforting the grieving, providing shelter, food, education, and resources, caring for the land, working to bring an end to violence and injustice. There is so much work to be done all around this beautiful planet we call home.

I believe that together we can make a positive difference, and I hope that the ripples of support and love and community continue to expand outward.

I thank you wholeheartedly. Щиро вам дякую.

A Few More Days

There’s a new post up on Kickstarter announcing the full list of authors and featuring the book cover!!!

Taras Kopansky is the Ukrainian artist who created the art, “Metahutsulka” for the cover. His piece is inspired by Mykola Senkovsky’s famous 1926 photograph “Old Hutsulka” that won the Grand Prix at the European International Exhibition in Paris.

The translated stories have working titles, since our translators are working on them at the moment, but they will give you an idea of what you have to look forward to. You can see what a range of voices we have assembled. Each one adds something special to this collection.
Thank you for being a part of this process with us. These stories are fantastic in all senses of the word! As we approach these final days of the campaign, we hope that you’ll spread the word and help us to share these imaginative stories with an even wider audience.
Дуже дякую! Слава Україні!

“Ми тут” — When a stranger reads your words

I am touched that Kirk Lawrence-Howard chose to read my poem “Ми тут” as part of a series of poems he has been reading in support of Ukraine.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone else (definitely not someone whom I do not know) read one of my poems. I got choked up, it’s such a gift.
He also shares several links to places people can donate and offer support.

Sincere thanks, Kirk, for your support of Ukraine and Ukrainian voices. 

He also read my friend Ksenia Horobchenko‘s powerful poem, “River Near Chornobyl” from her collection, A Sky Full of Wings.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting another update for our Kickstarter as we get closer to the end of the campaign. Just over a week left, and it’s not too late to become a backer — $1 for an ebook version or $20 for a print copy of Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora.