Can You Help A Little?

Hello friends, would you please take a few minutes and read this true story

about my friend Valentina who just fled the Ukraine and the angels that

helped her along the way?

To my sweet blog readers, I know this is not my normal kind of post, but my heart is 

touched by this true story. I hurt for the people and animals in the Ukraine, and I 

hope I can make a little difference by sharing this true story with you here and 

send a little extra help for funds that are needed so badly! 

The last time I was back home in Germany (Pre-Covid) I met Valentina, a lady from the Ukraine, who was staying

at my dad’s house for the summer. When Russia declared war on Ukraine, I reached out to Valentina to see

how she was doing. She lived in Mykolaiv (located in Southern Ukraine by the black sea) which was being

heavily bombed every night.

During a video chat I could hear the sirens going off in the background as the city was being bombed and Valentina

hurriedly hung up to rush to the building's basement for shelter. This was going on night after night and oftentimes she

and her neighbors had to sleep on the floor in the hallways or the basement. Valentina would send videos taken right

out her front door of the night sky lighting up with fire as bombs were coming down.

My Dad offered her refuge at his house in Germany, provided she was still able to get out of Mykolaiv. Scarily

the Russians were also targeting civilians trying to escape.

The reason Valentina had not left earlier was because one of her 3 dogs, had just had a litter of 4 Pomeranian

puppies. Naturally the dogs were extremely fragile.

For a better understanding of the situation for refugees who are fleeing with their pets, here is the deal. If you have

a place to go to in another country (like a friend, family, or a host family) who are willing to take you and your pet in,

one can take pets across the borders. Unfortunately, the majority of refugees must go into refugee camps first before

getting placed into homes. In the camps, animals are not allowed so they get divided up into animal shelters

where the pets must quarantine first.

A lot of people are not able to come back for their animals because they simply cannot provide for them anymore.

Those pets will be put up for adoption. Luckily in Germany there are only “NO KILL SHELTERS”.

There are such heartbreaking stories of refugees making it across the border with their pets and then having to

get separated after all they have been through.

To think of Valentina and her animals in the basement every night with bombs going off, being traumatized and

having no place to go, hurt my heart and gave me a couple of sleepless nights. I felt so very helpless.

So, where are you going to go to when you have 3 adult dogs and 4 puppies? Who is going to take you in?

As my dad is older and with some health challenges, it was not going to be the best place for Valentina and her dogs.

Finally, I had an idea, what if I could find foster families for Valentina's animals in Germany, near my dad’s house,

so she could at least visit them while staying at his place? Not ideal, but at least they would all be safe and being

taken care of. I figured a good place to start asking for help were with local dog breeders.

Being that the puppies are Pomeranians, I searched for breeders in the Frankfurt area. I wrote an email explaining

the situation and asking for help for my friend's dogs. About an hour after the first few emails were sent, I received a

reply from a Pomeranian breeder who was not only willing to take in the dogs, but also take in my friend.

I could not believe it. I FOUND AN ANGEL. Marion is my angels name and we immediately had a video chat.

Marion shared that she had been wanting to take in a Ukrainian refugee with pets anyways.

As a breeder, Marion has an animal friendly house with all of the necessary accommodations. I was teary-eyed and

my heart was jumping with joy. The very next day I told Valentina that I was able to find a home where she could go

with all 7 of her fur babies.

Now we had to hope and pray that she would still be able to get out of Mykolaiv safely as the bombing was becoming

more intense each day. Residential areas, hospitals, childcare facilities, sadly nothing was off limits.

Within a few days, Valentina got ready to leave the Ukraine. She packed her 2 older dogs into a purse and the

mom dog with her 4 puppies into a backpack. All Valentina took was as much dogfood as could be carried as she did

not know how long they would be on the road or if there would be food available for the dogs.

From the Ukraine, Valentina escaped into Poland and during her stop at the Krakow train station, Polish volunteers

were waiting for the refugees providing water and snacks. These volunteers have pet stations set up with food, water

and a room where animals can be let out of the pet carriers and use a litter box if needed.

At the train station she found herself another angel. A volunteer named Beata, who took care of my friend and her

dogs, came to find Valentina at the end of her night shift at the train station and invited Valentina to go home to her house

for the night. Valentina and the dogs were able to get a night of sleep before getting on a bus leaving for Germany

the next day. This made it so my friend did not have to sleep at the station with all of her dogs. A stranger, taking

home another stranger with all those puppies out of kindness and love for animals.

The next day, Valentina got on a refugee bus from Krakow/Poland to Frankfurt/Germany where my German angel,

Marion, picked her up, took her into her home with open arms and had a hot bath waiting for her.

Luckily I was able to reach out via Facebook to the polish angel, Beata, who took my friend home for the night.

It was important to me to make sure Beata knew her kindness did not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

My Mom in Germany is already asking for Beata's address so she can send her a care package too!!!

It turns out both Beata and her daughter Sandra are volunteers at the Krakow train station. As previously mentioned,

there is a pet room set up for the animals that need care. As you can imagine, they have been traveling in crates

for hours and are traumatized. In this room there are litterboxes, food, medications and space to get some rest.

At first, these volunteers helped refugees and pets who waited at the station for hours to continue their journey,

but now there are many refugees who have actually stayed in Krakow, and don’t have money for animal food.

So, these angels are now also providing petfood to them.

Many refugees don’t even have animal crates, so a lot of the pets have escaped during travel and are now

wandering around. This group provides leashes and crates for the pets to stay safe and these volunteers are in

desperate need for more supplies.

I joined their FB group and now see pictures of the happenings in the Krakow pet room every day. Needless to say

it makes my heart happy to see how they are helping and what a difference these people are making.

If you are interested, I'm sure they would love to have you join the group.

Help for animals from Ukraine | Krakow Main Railway Station

Although I am so far away here in the States, somehow, I feel like I took a tiny part of my friend’s journey along

with her because I was so in- tuned in her travels and I saw the pictures she would send and the live messages I got,

holding my breath until I knew she crossed the border into Poland and was safe.

I would love to send those angels on the frontline in Krakow some funds so they can purchase more of what is needed

to keep this going. I know there are a lot of places to donate for the Ukraine, and I am sure they are all wonderful.

But being that I reached out to these ladies caring for those refugees and their animals, I cannot help thinking

how wonderful it would be to get some donations together from abroad, saying THANK YOU to those helpers.

Those that make a difference to each person and pet in need. To tell them that the world is watching from far away

and WE SEE YOU. I am attaching some pictures of the happenings in Krakow for you. If you can help at all,

no amount is too small and every little bit matters.

PayPal PAYMENT LINK

PayPal Link

(If you do not have PAYPAL but would like to help, please reach out per private message to: christinevandorm@yahoo.com)

Here are some more pictures of angels at work

Let's send them some love, shall we?