ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – If you’re looking to directly contribute to Ukraine, the Elmira Rotary Club is cooperating with its parent organization to raise funds for the nation.
At the upcoming Unity in the Community rally, local members of Rotary International will be taking donations for the Rotary Foundation, the charitable arm of the organization. Leveraging the size and reputation of the Foundation, all of the money raised will be sent directly to eastern Europe.
Charities often have difficulty getting money and aid to the right people. The Rotary Foundation has a perfect trustworthiness score on CharityNavigator.org, an independent organization dedicated to charity transparency and helping people find the best and most ethical and efficient charities.
According to the Rotary Foundation, “Contributions to the Disaster Response Fund received by 30 April 2022 qualify for use in support of the Ukrainian relief efforts.” Tom Brown, a local Rotarian and past president of the Elmira Rotary Club says that the way the organization is set up allows the aid to get to the right people.
What they’ve done is they’ve designated all funds for emergency disaster relief to go to the Ukrainian crisis… now the only people that can access that is other rotary clubs in Ukraine, bordering Ukraine, and around Ukraine, so they know where the money could be used best.
Tom Brown – Rotarian and Elmira Community Member
Tom has a personal connection to Ukraine too. One of his fellow Rotarians, a businessman named Jesper, is from Ukraine and has since fled to Poland. That hasn’t stopped his fighting spirit though. He has been bringing vans and SUV’s loaded with supplies from other countries back into Ukraine, and giving the vehicles to his countrymen to use as ambulances.
If you would like to contribute to the relief effort you can do so by going to the Elmira Rotary club website.
The Unity in the Community Rally will be held Sunday, March 20 at Elmira College, on the lawn in front of Kolker and Carnegie Hall buildings from 2-3 in the afternoon.
