— — —| DID YOU KNOW? |— — —

• The US Government, through the “Uniting for Ukraine” program, has allowed 125,000 Ukrainians to come to the U.S. for an initial two-year period
• One of the requirements for this program is that a Ukrainian family must have a sponsor in the U.S. who agrees to help them get on their feet
• To date, the entire allotment of 125,000 Ukrainians has been approved for travel to the U.S., but there aren’t enough host sponsors to support them…so they must remain in Ukraine
• Like in Minnesota, winter is coming in Ukraine, which will make conditions that much worse for those who remain in Ukraine

— HOW CAN YOU HELP MAKE THE WELCOME HAPPEN? —

• PROMOTE: As Rotarians, we are all respected members of our communities and have extensive networks as well.  We urge all of you to promote the need for host sponsors in your networks…it’s as simple as sending an email to your friends and neighbors, or posting on social media.  When you amplify the need, interested parties will see the message, and can reach out to Alight for more details
• HOST: While broad promotion of the need for sponsor groups is the goal of our involvement, acting as a sponsor is critical!  If you’re willing to act as “the guy” that all of have (you know…”I know a guy…”) for these incoming Ukrainians to provide support for them during their acclimation process, you’re awesome!  You can learn more about what a sponsorship means HERE
• DONATE: If you’d like to do more than simply promote the need for host sponsors, you can give money to support the coordination of these sponsors.  With a donation to Alight, you are helping fund resources that will support these incoming Ukrainian families: Russian speaking guides that can answer questions the families may have, background checks for sponsor groups to ensure safety, other support resources that will make the role of sponsor as seamless as possible.  You can also donate to The Rotary Foundation’s Disaster Response Fund, which is being mobilized for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and surrounding European countries, but can also be used to support refugees here (more on this below)

To make this as easy as possible for you,

we have created several resources:

• Recently, we held two informational sessions for people interested in being involved.  These sessions covered information on Alight and the Uniting for Ukraine program, the importance of host sponsors in the life of a refugee, and feedback from fellow Rotarians that have volunteered to be sponsors.  These sessions were October 20^th and October 27^th and you can view the recordings by clicking on the links
• We have created a webpage that shares more information and has a vast amount of one pagers, templates and other resources that will be useful for you.  (BTW…did you know there is a website, rotarymidwest.org, that is a great place to point prospective Rotarians throughout our “region” to find a club in their area?)
• Alight staff are more than ready to speak to your club about the issues that face the Ukrainian refugees and how we as Rotarians can help
• We are planning several “Happy Hours” for members that are interested in finding out more in a casual setting.  Look for more information on these soon, and please let us know if you or your club would like to host one of these events
• And…if there’s anything else you need, it can be provided!

— CONTACT INFORMATION —

YOU MENTIONED DISASTER RESPONSE FUND GRANTS…TELL ME MORE