Blog
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It has been 20 months to the day since I first arrived at the snow covered Ukraine-Poland border to help refugees. I never expected to cross the border, and I certainly never expected to be as far east as Kharkiv. But here I am, back in Ukraine for what must be my fifth trip this…
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He never said he was hungry. That’s the thought I have had over and over today, as I fast in observance, and in honor of, the first Yom Kippur in my life without my grandpa. It would have been his 98th Day of Atonement, every one of which he fasted if he could, even when…
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It took a tragedy to remind us why we’re all here. Our trusted and loyal canine friend, Monty, who has been with our team from the beginning, passed away unexpectedly this week. The whole team has been shaken. I was already planning to come back to Ukraine but the timing was such that I arrived…
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A year ago yesterday I was at a restaurant here in Miami with my Ukrainian friends, debating what was on everybody’s mind at the time: whether Putin would actually send his troops then building up on the border into another sovereign nation to invade. No one at dinner that night believed it would happen. A…
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’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Ukraine,The missiles were landing on farmlands of grain.The people of Donbas stood up to the test,But the houses were dark from the East to the West. And Putin was sleeping all snug in his bedWhile visions of sugar plums danced in his head,Dreaming of empire, warm to…
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I’m sitting in a London-themed coffee shop in north central Kyiv, surrounded by portraits of Queen Elizabeth II artistically shrouded in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag. There’s a Big Ben grandfather clock and a classic red telephone booth door for an entrance, and this place looks and feels 100% normal for a…
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I’m sitting in a Copenhagen coffee shop during a brief layover on my way back to New York. On my walk here from the train station, I’ve already seen two Ukrainian flags flying. Seeing this vociferous support from the free citizens of yet another European country has been a moving and fitting bookend for my…
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Insulin has to be stored between 5 and 15 degrees Celsius. The only way to transport something over 1,000 km at that temperature during a record-breaking heat wave is a refrigerated truck, which I happen to have. That is why I find myself at the other end of Ukraine this morning, about 20km from the…
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After a couple false starts involving bum paperwork and a particularly ornery Polish border officer, I’ve finally crossed into Ukraine and made my first delivery drop of the week in this sleepy town about two hours west of Kyiv. My new truck carries at least 8 pallets although under the weight of almost 2,000 kilos…
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I’m at the airport awaiting my connecting flight to Zurich. This time tomorrow I’ll be in Warsaw, and the day after, if all goes to plan, I’ll be back in Ukraine. It has occurred to me how much has changed since I first flew out at the beginning of April. Then, Covid restrictions were still…
brian mayer 