BRIGHT VOLUNTEERS. PAVLO KALMYKOV

The war caught Pavlo Kalmykov while he was on a business trip in the United States. He decided to use this opportunity and spread awareness about what was happening in Ukraine. Today we’ll tell you more about Pavlo’s efforts at the info frontline. 

How Pavlo helped from abroad

The primary way I contribute is by donating. I do it quite a bit and try to cover many areas: UAF requests, meals for those in need, etc. Our colleague Hanna Kononenko knows reliable organizations where you can donate more money.

Moreover, she often does all the fundraising for fighters she knows directly. Hanna also processes buying and delivering of requested items directly to the frontline herself. For example, once, it was a fundraiser to buy bulletproof vests and clothing for soldiers in the 92nd brigade in Kharkiv.

As I wasn’t in Ukraine when Russia invaded our country, I started spreading awareness about what was going on among locals. Then, when people wanted to donate, I told them about reliable foundations and organizations, both public and private. One of them was from Kharkiv: they cooked and delivered food to locals.

That’s one of the projects we could help with the most. Called New Day for Ukraine, it was started by the creators of the Al Cuisine cooking school in Kharkiv. The organization cooks and delivers 8000+ meals every day for those in need.

Lastly, I served as a transit point in Romania for anyone I knew. I moved to Bucharest after my trip and even managed to bring my parents here. But my parents insisted on returning home – we all know how hard it is to leave your homeland after living there for many years. And this is especially true in the case of our parents. So I had a few spare rooms in the house and told people they could always count on staying as long as needed.

How locals chipped in

There also was a case when we needed to deliver a drone from the USA to Ukraine. Firstly, we ordered the drone to a local address of one of our colleagues from LA. This helped to save on shipping and taxes. Then, there was another PlutoTV colleague who’s based in Poland. He was flying from the US to Poland and took that drone with him, which allowed getting it to Ukraine faster.

Another girl from Pluto organized the collection of humanitarian aid supplies. She’s of Ukrainian descent and moved to the States a while ago. People brought anything that could come in handy for Ukrainians, which was later shipped to our country. They also found a US producer of bulletproof vests and arranged a discount on the prices for Ukrainian orders.

Or the mom of one of the nice people I met in LA is a comedian who collected money to help our country during her shows. I showed her our local foundations where she could transfer this money.