Operation Safe Harbor Ukraine

 

What is Operation Safe Harbor – Ukraine?  According to Steve Glenn this his explanation: 

 

For the last three weeks, I have been watching the tragedy in Ukraine with horror. As you know, millions of Ukrainian people have fled to Poland and are now refugees without shelter, food, toiletries, and medicine.  

I have decided that our family and our company are not going to stand by and watch people suffer from the cold winds of winter with no shelter, food, or medicine. We have decided that now is the time for action. We are leading an effort to help 200 refugee family members by getting them off the streets in Poland and getting them into a warm bed.  Here is our action plan. 

 

Secure 50 hotel rooms to house 200+ family members - We have worked with Best Western Hotels in Warsaw, Poland and have secured 50 rooms to house 50 families (200 people) for a one-month period starting April 1, 2022. They have provided us with an amazing hotel rate of $50.42 per night which also includes breakfast and WIFI so the families can stay in touch with their loved ones.  

Sending staff to coordinate our efforts – This is where Brian Wallingford comes into play with Executive Travel sponsoring a team of volunteers from Lincoln, Nebraska to Warsaw, Poland to coordinate all the steps in locating Ukrainian families and transporting them to the hotel, and finding additional food, toiletries, and medical supplies for family members. 

 

This is where you can help! - I am asking you to consider joining this humanitarian effort to support the displaced Ukrainian families by donating to help pay for the hotel rooms, food, toiletries, and medicine and provide a safe haven for their families. Executive Travel is pledging to offer matching donations of your gift (up to $25,000). No gift is too small or too big. Now is the time we need to put our concerns into action. Please consider a generous donation to help us support our brothers and sisters of Ukraine.   

 

We have contacted Heartland Bible Church in Lincoln, Nebraska and they have agreed to assist this effort by serving as the conduit to collect donations (tax-exempt) and send 100% of the proceeds of this effort to our hotel in Warsaw to pay for all these expenses.  We have created a website that allows you to donate to this effort.  Join us in putting our action plan to help displace Ukrainian refugees with no place to live or eat.  

 

"Operation Safe Harbor Ukraine" was created in March 2022 by Steve Glenn, Chairman of Executive Travel, to provide housing for displaced Ukrainians from the war. Together with local businesses and volunteers, a hotel has been secured in Warsaw, Poland, to house up to 200 Ukrainians for at least 30 days until funding will allow additional hotel rooms and/or extended time to find these families permanent housing and jobs.  So far there has been about 4 million who have crossed the border into Poland or neighboring countries.  Many of these refugees have either walked, took the train or bus to get out of their country into a safe environment.

 

The goal for Operation Safe Harbor Ukraine is to provide shelter, food, medicine, and basic necessities to refugee families displaced by the Ukraine war. Helping these families through the hardest time in their lives. To show them they are loved. We are working with local Ukrainian churches in Nebraska to identify families in need and to assist with translation.

 

There are several partners that have been working tirelessly on Operation Safe Harbor Ukraine.  Executive Travel, a travel management company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, is providing a matching gift of $25,000 to launch Operation Safe Harbor Ukraine (OSHU). Best Western has graciously provided room rates at a tremendous discount to support our efforts. Heartland Bible Church in Lincoln, NE, has volunteered to serve as the financial conduit to collect tax-exempt donations, allowing 100% (with credit card fees excluded) of proceeds to go to helping Ukrainians in need in Poland.  Many volunteers that went over to help are from the Lincoln area or surrounding areas in Nebraska.  So far 475,000 dollars has been raised and just last week a bank on the East Coast offered to pay for rooms for 120 people until October. 

 

Steve said that some of the families will probably try to get back into Ukraine because it is now summer, when the war started it was winter.  If they try to come back across to Poland or neighboring countries chances are there may not be a place for them to stay or live.  About 40% will probably stay in Poland, which means they will need to learn Polish, since they speak Russian.  Poland will need to come up with more housing, jobs and build new schools.

Brian shared that many of the Ukrainians are very talented and that they actually put on a talent show with their musical skills, playing instruments and singing.  With the Ukrainian people speaking only Russian, the Polish people speaking Polish and here are the Americans trying to help and speaking neither language, Brian got help thru the Rotary Clubs, a Young Person’s Business organization and got interpreters to help so that they could get what the people needed.

 

Many of these people when they arrived in Warsaw, Poland, they were sick with colds, flu, COVID and other illnesses, so they needed medical attention.  They were able to get some doctors and nurses to help. 

Many of the families will move to France, Spain, Canada, UK and if possible the U.S.  Steve and Brian are investigating how they might be able to use “Frequent Flying Miles” to help bring some of the families to the U.S.  Right now many of these families need our “Thoughts and Prayers.”