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Dear LIRS Supporter,
Irina was working as a kindergarten teacher in Kyiv when news started to spread about a possible Russian invasion.
“They were telling us that there might be a war coming, but we didn’t believe it,” she said. Still, she began preparing for the worst. At school, she practiced going down into a bomb shelter with her students.
“We would take the children to the bunker and tell them that it was a magical castle so they didn’t get scared,” she remembers.
Then the bombings began—and the journey down to the bunker was anything but a game.
“I saw enormous fear in their eyes,” she said, with tears in her own.
Irina and her students survived, but they could not return to school. Though she wanted to stay behind in Ukraine and volunteer, she was forced to flee. The journey was dangerous and difficult, and lines to cross the border stretched for miles.
"Many of us don't have family, home, or work anymore,” Irina said. “We're sincerely grateful for any help that you give us.”
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| Hear more of Irina’s story and the support LIRS provides refugees like her in this video. |
“In Lviv, we met this woman who was pregnant and had two children,” Irina shared. “She was scared to cross the border. We decided to do it together. We prayed to God and he gave us this miracle we crossed the border [into Poland] in just 40 minutes.”
Irina then flew to Tijuana, Mexico, where she waited with Ukrainians and thousands of others at the United States border amid makeshift refugee camps and improvised shelters before finally arriving in the U.S. She then made her way to Massachusetts, where she was met by members of the LIRS network.
“It was not easy, but I still want to thank you all on behalf of all my nation,” she said. “We are super grateful to the volunteers who gave us food and clothes. It's just that the process itself of getting here was extremely difficult.”
With the help of LIRS and its partner Ascentria Services for New Americans, Irina has received gift cards to buy groceries, been provided with English language-learning opportunities, and received cultural orientation. Her long, difficult journey has ended, at least temporarily—but there are still thousands of other refugees fleeing Ukraine for the United States.
Your support helps provide refugees from Ukraine with food, clothing, temporary housing, and other critical needs in their first days in the United States. Please make a gift today to stand with those seeking safety and a new beginning.
With deep gratitude,
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah
President & CEO
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State Disclosures
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