Help us raise money for Ukrainian charity East SOS: We’re donating the profits from our new T-shirt (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members, 

Thank you for your continued support. In case you missed it, we recently added a new T-shirt to our online store — and we have a new cause we’re raising money for. 

Since Russia has demanded that Ukraine give up five of its territories as a prerequisite for a ceasefire, we wanted to design a shirt to show support for Ukraine — all 603,628 square kilometers of it. 

In June, we added the “603,628 km²” T-shirt to our store, and are donating the profits for at least the first month to the Ukrainian charity East SOS.

East SOS provides comprehensive assistance to Ukrainians in front-line regions and internally displaced people (IDPs). The charity started in 2015, concentrating on providing essential supplies and humanitarian aid for those living in the front-line areas of Russia’s 2014 invasion. 

East SOS is currently raising money to repair houses in eastern Ukraine that have been damaged by Russia’s war. So far, they’ve helped repair nearly 1,500 homes in Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts, with another 300 households waiting for assistance. The charity works to repair private homes, prioritizing requests from elderly people living alone or individuals with disabilities — essentially those who are unable to carry out the work themselves. 

The East SOS team steps in immediately after a house is damaged by shelling to cover roofs and windows, preventing further damage from rain or snow. After an emergency response, the team returns in order of priority to completely restore homes to make sure they can protect the inhabitants.

So far, since launching our fundraiser, we’ve already raised $2,000 for East SOS. For context, it takes around $1,500 for East SOS to repair one house. 

You can buy the “603,628 km²” T-shirt here. Don’t forget, as members you have a 15% discount in our online store with the code WELOVEYOU (because we love our members). 

You can also learn more about East SOS here or donate directly to them here. Residents of the U.S. can support their sister organization Vostok SOS USA, which has tax-exempt status in the U.S.

Thank you for your support, and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at community@kyivindependent.com.