May 2025
Dear Friends of Ukraine,
Recently, our team member Chip Heldman returned from a visit to our volunteers in Ukraine, where he saw firsthand the pain and destruction inflicted upon the Ukrainian people by the russian invaders. But he noticed something else, too: the Ukrainian people remain resilient and hopeful. They tend to memorials of fallen heroes with flags, flowers, and photographs. Their children laugh and play between air raid sirens. Wounded Defenders learn to paint in rehabilitation hospitals.
We must follow this example. We should remain strong by doing what we can, when we can, and with whatever we have to make this world a better place. Whatever you are doing to improve the world and help Ukraine - whether it’s contributing financially, donating your time, or spreading the word - it all matters. The world is a sum of our actions and intentions.
Read on for a deeper look into Chip’s trip to Ukraine, an overview of the aid we provided during our 2024 operational year, a look at our newest campaign to help children affected by war attend summer camps, an exploration of the recently signed U.S.-Ukraine mineral deal, and much more. Or, read no further and support Ukrainian Defenders by clicking the ‘Donate Now’ button above.
Thank you for being part of our community.
Together we are stronger!
Kyle, Andriy, Ulana, Natalie, Becky and all of us at
Sunflower Seeds Ukraine
Spread Seeds of Help!
YOUR DONATIONS AT WORK: 2024 OPERATIONAL YEAR RECAP
In our operational year 2024, which spanned November 2023 to October 2024, we helped 7,176 Defenders and countless civilians by providing 20,538 pieces of medical supplies (arranged in ~2,000 IFAKs), 7,480 uniform components (including boots), 3,934 pieces of protective equipment (such as electronic earmuffs), 5,358 pieces of tactical gear (knee pads, backpacks, etc), and 460 pieces of optical equipment (mainly binoculars). The pie chart below shows a breakdown of our program spending, with the majority spent on purchasing medical aid and uniform components.
Last year, we averaged about $36,000 in donations and expenses per month. We spent ninety one percent of our funds on program costs, which are the funds we use to directly help people in Ukraine. The remaining nine percent are attributed to the “cost of doing business” that is outside of our control (payment card processing fees, government filing expenses, customs and logistics, and so on). To put that in perspective, Charity Watch generally considers a nonprofit with seventy five percent or above of funds spent on program costs to be an efficient organization.
That’s a lot of aid delivered to the civilians and Defenders of Ukraine, and it couldn’t be accomplished without your help. If there’s a particular category of aid you’d like to contribute you, let us know on our donation page.
This summer, you can give a vulnerable Ukrainian child the experience, joy, and growth of summer camp. The Rivne branch of Plast, Ukraine’s national scouting organization, is organizing camps for children affected by war. These are kids who have been displaced from their homes, who’ve lost a parent, or whose parents are serving on the front lines. With your support, we can reach our goal of helping at least 75 kids attend camp. A donation of $100 can cover up to half the cost of camp for one child. If you’d like to help us meet our goal, please consider a donation to this effort —send a Ukrainian kid to camp.
SFSU volunteer Chip Heldman recently turned his curiosity and concern about Ukraine into action when he traveled to Ukraine to meet with local volunteers and get a glimpse of life inside war-torn Ukraine. The following is a brief excerpt from his trip:
I took an old train to the town of Rivne where I was met by local SFSU volunteers.
I helped in the warehouse from which Sunflower Seeds Ukraine distributes the supplies sent from the U.S. The warehouse is really more of a four-room building operated by a couple of university students and a handful of school-aged helpers. About 10 school students, one girl and nine boys, come by after school almost every day to help fulfill orders. They work hard, but they also like to joke and have fun.
One of the SFSU team members is the principal of the nearby school, a simple one-story building where I was invited to teach English to four classes of students. There’s a bomb shelter in the basement with just one bathroom for about 500 kids.
Visit our blog to read more about Chip’s trip to Ukraine, where he visits a memorial in Lviv, war refugees, and a military hospital that specializes in rehabilitating wounded Defenders.
Meet Marlene, an SFSU volunteer based in rural northern Colorado. Marlene heard about one of SFSU’s calls for donations for Defenders and dropped off supplies at one of our donation drives. There, she burst into tears, realizing that she’d found the right organization to support: “I was finally able to direct my energies to really making a difference for someone in Ukraine.” She has twice carried medical supplies to Paris on a commercial airline, passing them to an SFSU volunteer on the European side. “This handoff helped facilitate a faster delivery to the front lines,” she says.
Marlene, a graphic designer and photographer by trade, says she couldn’t be prouder to be Ukrainian, and she urges us all to realize how we’re “globally connected” with events in Ukraine. “This unjust war and its abject destruction of the country is a crime against humanity,” she says, “and that should spur everyone to support Ukraine against this unjust invasion.”
To read more, visit our Patreon page, where we also post other exclusive content.
MAY 15 IS VYSHYVANKA DAY! HELP US CELEBRATE A UKRAINIAN TRADITION!
Vyshyvanka Day is an international holiday that aims to preserve the Ukrainian folk traditions of creating and wearing traditional embroidered clothes. This year, Vyshyvanka Day will be celebrated on May 15th. On this day in Ukraine and all over the world, lots of people join a beautiful flash mob wearing Ukrainian vyshyvanka.
If you want to celebrate Vyshyvanka Day with us - or wear beautiful Ukrainian apparel any other day of the year - check out our web store. Our shirts are designed by the Ukrainian artist Daria Mushtaieva to honor Vyshyvanka - Ukraine's traditional ethnic embroidery. It is a big part of Ukraine's identity, and we are proud to share it with the world!
We not only send supplies to Ukraine, we help promote Ukraine’s story and culture through a variety of events in and around Boulder, Colorado. Thanks to all who came to support our events last month: the film Soldiers of Song, the Big Thompson Brewery fundraiser, the Solar Panel Conversion Decoration event, and the musical performances of YAGODY, the Jurij Fedynskyj family, and Nadiya. See our blog post for a more detailed highlight of April’s events.
Please join us this May 17th at Avogadro's restaurant in Fort Collins, where Space Monkeys from the Future will be performing a benefit concert for Ukraine. We’re also calling for volunteers on May 31st to help us pack pallets full of supplies destined for Ukraine. See our events page for more details.
After months of prolonged negotiations, the U.S. and Ukraine signed a mineral deal. While it’s too early to say what exactly this means for the future of U.S.-Ukrainian relations and what, if any, strategic advantage this might provide to Ukraine, it’s useful for us to understand the basics of what’s in the deal and what resources Ukraine has to offer.
Ukraine controls an estimated 5% of the world’s supply of critical raw materials, which are vital for the global success of renewable energy, military, and industrial infrastructure. These materials include large deposits of so-called “rare earth minerals,” which are essential for numerous technologies from airplane construction to the production of electric vehicles. The U.S. has shown interest in diversifying where it gets these resources as it continues its trade war with China, which is currently the world’s largest producer of rare earth minerals.
To read the full story with references, check out our blog post.
HELP US SPREAD THE WORD
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*The misspelling and lower casing of proper names like ‘russia’ in this newsletter is intentional and used as signs of disdain and disrespect. Similarly, the uppercasing of words such as ‘Defenders’ is intentional and used as a sign of respect and appreciation.
Note: Sunflower Seeds Ukraine is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN 99-3371103) registered in the state of Colorado, in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service. Donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by U.S. law.
