Dear Friends, Colleagues, Parents, and Neighbors! 

My name is Alla Azrilyan and I am from Ukraine. I live at Sirius Community in Shutesbury and teach at Amherst-Pelham Regional Middle School and High School. My daughter is in Goldfinch Class at Hartsbrook. 

When the war erupted in my homeland, I felt devastated and helpless. I am still overcoming the bouts of depression caused by this terrifying invasion. What helps me the most is an opportunity to do something meaningful to relieve human suffering and I decided to reach out to my community to ask for your support with this. 

From the first weeks of war, my friend Daniil (who is also from Ukraine) started building a network of trusted connections, both here and in our motherland, united by a yearning to help. You could watch a two-minute video about how our organization began here. 

Now, we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit with zero overhead cost, run entirely by volunteers like myself (including many teachers). We operate by sponsoring ten independent teams of trusted local volunteers in the war zones in Ukraine, who can quickly react to changing circumstances and reach where large international organizations cannot. We feed and support tens of thousands of people weekly and have arranged close to fifty thousand evacuations. Now, with the winter arriving and Russia attacking the power stations, we are providing blankets, power-generators and wood stoves. 

While the Red Cross spends $100 on every $25 raised (you can look that up), we are not spending anything on fundraisers, because those who want to support our work just organize fundraisers for us for free. So, I decided to do this virtual fundraiser in my extended community. If you are able to, please donate. 

If you can help me organize a fundraising event in the community, please reach out at alla.azrilyan@ukrainetrustchain.org. I have been meaning to do that since the start of the war, but have not had the bandwidth. 

You could also help by joining us on social media (just find Ukraine TrustChain on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or LinkedIn), inviting your friends to join, and interacting with our posts (liking, re-posting, commenting). Every bit helps us spread the word about our work so that more people can help Ukraine directly.

Thank you for reading my message and for considering supporting Ukraine TrustChain! 

Alla