Humanitarian Trip Update

Friends, It's a bit overdue but I wanted to give you all an update on my recent humanitarian trip to Poland. as you know I left on the 25th of March and arrived in Poland (Warsaw) on the afternoon of the 26th, a bit late due to delays out of JFK but all in all it was a great flight.?As many of you close to me know, this was a very personal mission for me and only a few know the reason why but respectfully I need to leave that out of this partially update. ?Before I continue with the update I wanted to thank a few people that made this possible.

Marta Markiewicz:?You are a rock star in every way. ?Marta was a supplier to Dawar and lives in Warsaw.?Marta, all 5” 4” of her set up my time with one of the humanitarian outfits she works with called Strawa Warszawa which I'll get into later. Her spirit doesn't end there. Marta and her boyfriend at the time drove from Warsaw to Lviv early in the war and personally transported 6 refugees along with one very large dog to Warsaw in a modest Audi A3….The 5+hr trip was tight, to say the least.?She also housed these refugees and got them to their final (but hopefully temporary destinations). You are amazing Marta!!

Father John from the Ukraine Church in Pittsburgh introduced me to some pretty amazing ex-military folks that we're able to help with the second part of my mission. Father John also has family in Ukraine and has traveled there in support of the many orphanages that need desperate help.

Lew Knopp: Retired SEAL lives in Pittsburgh and has an organization called Templar Titans. My friend you have served your country with honor and had paid for your service and you continue to serve those in need. Lew your words to me were impactful and I love you, brother!

Dennis Fitzgerald: Dennis thank you for your support right off the bat. You never tried to stop me or talk me down, you know I had to do this and you never got in the way! You are awesome in so many ways.

Pete Ashi (My Big Brother)?While Dennis was the Yin, you were the Yang as you challenged me as to the question of WHY, you urged me to think about this and weigh all of the options and risks. This is what big brothers do, they protect their siblings, they challenge their thinking and in the end, they support your decision, this, along with so many other reasons is why you are the biggest hero in my life.

To my Strawa family…I love you guys. What you are all doing is amazing and I know we will be connected and keep in touch for life! ?If any of you are on Instagram please check them out.?Strawa.Warszawa

To all of you that Donated or just offered your love and words of support: None of this would have happened without you!

On Monday the initial work started and it consisted of working in a kitchen called Strawa Warszawa. The kitchen was donated by a burger company called Bobs Burgers and was staffed 100% by volunteers made up of artists, photographers, actors, and actresses as well as a few directors. Needless to say, it was hard to run away from the cell phone camera as they documented pretty much every second and every embarrassing moment that took place, but they made this part of the mission fun and light. Days started early and ended late. Some days were from early morning to 6 pm or 7 pm and later, we ended up doing split shifts which I volunteered to do both shifts so I could help give some of the volunteers some time off to spend with their friends and family and to actually spend some time at their real jobs that they have been away from. The split shifts started around 8 am and lasted until maybe 1 pm and then back from 4 pm until late evening and in some cases after midnight. ?This was basically preparing food for the refugees at the train stations.

When we started in the kitchen, we were preparing food for maybe 600 to 800 refugees but before I left and with some changes to the kitchen and menu, we were pumping out meals for around 1800 refugees! Today that number has skyrocketed as they have made additional changes, added professional staff, and received a substantial grant from the US Govt!!

?The really interesting part of this is that those that were volunteers are still going there even with a paid staff in place.?They don't get paid for their work but like me, they found their work to be food for their own soul and know that what they are doing IS making a difference. The start of my second week started the same but I ended up in some other locations that I will discuss in another post soon, I wanted to update all of those that donated thru GoFundMe first.

There is another outfit that I am going to donate to and actually work with (hands-on) is called ?One Humanity Institute www.OneHumanity.Institute out of Pittsburgh.?They are building and renovating existing buildings in Krakow for refugees and are in need of more supplies like beds, dressers, furniture, etc.?I encourage you to donate to them if you feel the need to get involved but this organization is doing some amazing things in Poland. ?

I will post some pictures soon of the kitchen work, train station, border, and within Ukraine soon.?I will not post any pictures of specific refugees only distant shots as I didn’t what to be disrespectful to them.?

I wanted to say how proud I am of the people of Poland. What they are doing is amazing and selfless. Their warmth and kindness to me and to the refugees will never be forgotten. I can't begin to tell you how many UBER and TAXI rides I have had when I was in Warsaw, most of the drivers were from Georgia or Azerbaijan, and just about every one of them offered their homes to refugees and that was the same for most of the people I met in Poland, they have all opened their homes and hearts to them.

I really fell in love with this country, its people, and their spirit. This trip was life-changing in so many ways and I will be back there soon and will now start to donate my time to local food kitchens and causes in my area.

Thanks again for all of your support and look for another post soon.