Ukraine

Siret, Romania set up this refugee camp, able to hold over 400 guests at an old soccer stadium 2 miles from the border. If any Ukrainian coming into Romania doesn’t have a place to go further into Europe, or money for a hotel, they’ll likely end up at a camp like this. Some stay for a night or two while passing through, while others are invited to stay as long as they require. Romania won’t allow a single displaced Ukrainian go without food or a warm shelter.

Endless blue and orange tents. This entire camp was set up by Romania in less than 12 hours, without a moment’s notice when the surge of tens of thousands of refugees showed up at their doorstep. Each person who comes through the gates is checked by security, so families living in these tents can sleep soundly each night knowing they’re finally safe.

When we first purchased tickets 10 days before our trip, 12,000 people per day were still crossing here at the border. 10 days later, it was a trickle of about 50 people. The war is such a fluid situation and you never know what that day will bring. Even the cold weather dictates whether or not people can walk to safety. Each Ukrainian who comes through walks through this blue fenced-area filled with Romanian fireman and volunteers from around the world. They’re asked if they have a place to go, if they’ve eaten recently, if they need medical attention, etc, etc. A quarter mile of road behind this picture is filled with countless tents and trailers on either side of the road offering almost any service imaginable. The Romanian people treat their Ukrainian neighbors like royalty, with 100% joy, care and wanting nothing but to help in return.

Firefighter Alin is the press officer for the entire situation. He said he was giving dozens of interviews daily at the start of the conflict to hundreds of reporters from around the world. While we were there, he gave us hours of his time driving us in his personal car and sharing everything he knew. I’ve never met someone more passionate about his job and more caring of the people he serves.

Pompierii is Romanian for ‘firefighter’ …. there were dozens of these vans brought in from around the country, parked at the border. Each one was filled refugees, brought them to either refugee camps, train stations, hotels, airports, etc. As one van left, another drove up and instantly took its spot, ready to be filled again. All for free. And all facilitated by the most compassionate firefighters I’ve ever seen. Romanian hospitality is second to none.

Once you cross from Ukraine into Romania, the two lane road had a quarter mile of tents lining both sides. There was every service imaginable, all free to fleeing refugees. From food, to clothes, many medical facilities, clothes, free cell phone plans, and even this tent for all the pets who were brought over. The generosity of these volunteers has no bounds.

Dozens and dozens of firefighters from around the country were at the camp ready to welcome Ukrainians and serve them with genuine smiles and hospitality. All of these men and women were transferred here from around Romania, and although it was their job and duty to serve the refugees, each one of them would have done this without being asked, it seems to be the Romanian way.

Evil people take advantage of chaotic and desperate situations. In the chaos at the start of the war, people would come up to refugees offering them safe places to stay, and would kidnap them, sell them into slavery and in the worst situation kill them for their organs. Because of this, the police immediately began issuing badges and yellow vests so refugees could safely identify who is genuinely there to help.

Your eyes have a hard time adjusting inside the orange tents, it was a surreal color. This tent was set up as a play room for young kids, with a TV for movies, games, coloring tables and more. They are treated like royalty every step of the way.

It seemed we spent 24/7 shopping for supplies. We could never purchase enough. Our carts were only limited by how much space we had in the vans each trip. We would head back to the refugee centers to pack boxes, deliver them into Ukraine the next day, and repeat the cycle.

Alin showing us around the camp. There are three hot meals per day, 24/7 snacks, hot showers, a supervised play tent for kids and so much more. Refugees are treated like royalty from the second they walk into Romania.

We loaded each van with as many supplies as it could hold. One trip had the van weighed down so heavy it bottomed out any time we hit the slightest bump. With such a huge need in every delivery, we made sure there wasn’t an inch of free space left before we headed into Ukraine.

The first of our Ukrainian passport stamps. Many local Romanians volunteer their time to cross daily driving food convoys … some going as far as the war zone itself to get food to places no-one else will go. One of the saddest moments of the trip was when the Ukrainian border guard asked us if we had any canned food he could have as he inspected our van. We gave him canned tuna, which he slipped into his vest, quietly went to put it at his desk, and came back out to the inspection as though nothing has happened. These soldiers were clean-cut, had access to running water, electricity, etc, but very little food.

This van was being borrowed from Germany. All vehicles going into Ukraine had as many markings as possible to identify it as a humanitarian vehicle, from red crosses, to a machine gun with an ‘X’ plastered over it indicating “don’t shoot”. The smaller vans can go deeper into Ukraine, while the huge semi trucks of food must stop well before danger (they’re a huge target), offload at a local meeting spot and have smaller vans and civilian cars sneak food in from there.

Here in west Ukraine, it’s basically life as normal … except for lack of food. All public utilities work, people wash their car, paint their houses, we saw police giving out speeding tickets … it’s as though there wasn’t a war going on a few hundred miles away on the other side of the country. The only signs of conflict are the masses of people who evacuated here, and those who need to eat. We try our best each day to bring in hundreds of boxes of food, but they’re gone in 5 minutes and there are still hundreds of families in line who didn’t get a box that day. It was the most heartbreaking piece of our trip … there was never enough to go around.

E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E in Romania is helping in the effort to support their northern neighbors flee the war. This farmer transformed most of his corn storage room to a humanitarian storage and packaging facility. We pick up pallets and pallets of food and supplies from stores, bring them here, sort everything into boxes, back vans and trucks inside, load them up and head off into Ukraine.

A typical line at one of our food vans inside Ukraine. While some of us were handing out boxes of food, others were finding kids to blow up balloons with, give candy and a high-five. Tip for those who will work with us in the future but don’t speak Ukrainian: squeezing a balloon to make fart noises is funny in any language.

John, Jayden, Lauren, Alexis, Marie and Alec all took time from their jobs in the US to come serve refugees in Eastern Europe. While it’s a sacrifice to use precious vacation time, every single person said it was a life-changing experience and each wants to take their life in a new direction after spending just a few minutes doing this volunteer work.

One of the few indications of war we witnessed was this sand bag bunker created on the road out of town. These were scattered around the area preparing for Russia coming this far west, which thankfully never happened. Ukraine is under Martial Law and the entire country has a 10pm curfew. Street lights are turned off, roads are empty, the borders close and everyone stays inside until sunrise the next morning.

What was supposed to be a drug rehab facility for former inmates was rapidly turned into a refugee camp. Fight For Freedom in Suceava, Romania was started by a man who had the world handed to him on a silver platter … an MMA champion who had anything he could hope for, but was transformed by a few decisions that changed his life. He recently published a book about his life, which you can purchase on Amazon: click here.

We met Anastasia when she hopped in our van as our interpreter the first time we crossed the border into Ukraine. Getting to know her and her 8-year old daughter was the highlight of our trip. She was forced from her home in 2014 when Russia first invaded eastern Ukraine, and had to evacuate again when this war started in March. They’re living just across the border in a crammed apartment with ten others, but they’re safe and she helps as an interpreter for supply convoys going into Ukraine. Men are required to stay in Ukraine to fight, so she tells her boyfriend, “We’ll meet after the victory.”

Their building was built by communists as offices. The entire place has 18” thick concrete walls and there’s a bomb shelter in the basement. The communists built it as a place to facilitate their oppression on the people of Romania … little did they know decades alter it would be used as a safe-haven for refugees escaping the same fate.

A room inside Fight For Freedom ready for final touches, waiting to accept incoming refugees from Ukraine. Thanks to countless donations, dozens of volunteers and a desire to immediately house refugees, this deserted, run-down building was transformed into a 5-star hotel in a matter of weeks. There’s an entire second half of the building which hasn’t started renovations, and the owners of this facility want to take off the old wooden roof and put on a third story to almost double the bed capacity. That will be part of our trip in August if you’re interested in construction; details at the bottom of this page.

This may not look like it, but here’s 400lbs of supplies … the max our airline allowed us to bring over. We were blown away by how generous everyone was contributing to the supplies we purchased in the USA and Romania. Thank you!!

Mariupol, Ukraine. One of the worst-hit cities and constantly on the news. All of our tourniquets, bandages, medicine, first aid kits, etc went to the citizens there constantly harmed by daily bombings. While we weren’t personally able to take these boxes into the besieged city of Mariupol, our close Romanian friends freely risk their lives driving hundreds of these boxes close enough where locals around Mariupol and other dangerous cities can meet them for delivery. One such friend we met owns one of the biggest lumber mills in Romania. He’s set in every financial way possible and life is handed to him on a silver platter … yet he risks his life driving deep into Ukraine where he knows his life isn’t fulfilled unless he’s serving others. As he once said to us, “I would go without a meal if it mean someone who needs a meal can have mine instead.”

Refugees are safe once they get to Fight For Freedom … but to no one’s fault, it can be incredibly boring sitting in the center for days, weeks, even months on end. Everyone’s trying their hardest to keep our guests entertained, especially the kids … so we purchased a 10’ trampoline with your donations! This is Paul, our first little dude to use it and make sure we built it correctly. He was on it for literally hours.

There is so much negativity, hate and sadness in the world, so when we set up 501 Collective we made it our goal to only show the good, positive and joy in the hardest situations. People suffer and we don’t try to gloss it over, but we want to be a light in the darkness. This moment, however, hit us hard and we want to share it. This is the moment one of our Ukrainian friends, working with us as an interpreter at the border, received a phone call and learned his best friend since childhood was killed in combat against Russia. He walked away here after the phone call … out of respect we won’t be sharing his name.