Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:
It's too hurt to see, it's too hurt to feel, it continue to happen every day and it's impossible to get used to 
It's especially painful when i see places i've been before in news like this.
We all try to go on with our lives and try to smile, but there's this pain inside and it gets harder to deal with it.
Let me know what you guys think.
any crazy idea - well, no problem, anyway i'll do my best (you know that 
) and we'll find the best way to do that 
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
your new helper is so cute 
No electronics, no problems!
ha-haaa!!! the electrical engineer said that? really, man?
any PPE (gloves, or hoods, etc)
guys, GIRTHQUAKE, matthewmcl , it's about personal protective equipment 
no any huge and heavy things that would be too expensive to ship.
Rescue workers and firefighters are very often dismantling the destroyed buildings and objects, unfortunately.
So some stuff to help them with that would be useful.
The Jellies are framed and hung. Due to its size, the flag is going to require a custom frame which is going to set me back close to $700 USD. Which is money that could be better spent on medical supplies, so for the time being, it's still in its envelope.
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Bill,
I have a small contact with a local fire department chief. What sorts of things would you want? I'm happy to cover shipping to a certain point if that helps. Give me anything I can send to the chief, in fact if you want to reuse some text about your efforts there already like you've used for GoFundMe and such, that would be fine. Any pictures or whatnot could be helpful. If this is too big of a thing to ask, I can try and skim through this thread to put something together, but it would still be quite helpful to have a good list of things which would be helpful.
VikkiDp said:any PPE (gloves, or hoods, etc)
guys, GIRTHQUAKE, matthewmcl , it's about personal protective equipment
Rescue workers and firefighters are very often dismantling the destroyed buildings and objects, unfortunately.
So some stuff to help them with that would be useful.
Exactly this. Gloves and hoods come with re-inspect date requirements a lot like our racing suits (as I understand). These c0uld be determined to be unusable by our local FDs, but are very much high wear items that could 100% be used by firefigthers in Ukraine. We could even go as far as jackets, pants, helmets, or even boots.
SCBAs would be heckin wonderful, but shipping the pressure vessel (not to mention the size) might prove cost prohibitive for us. Plus I'm 100% sure that Europe is going to have their own thread and fitting standards 
Shipping will be through the USPS, and would be dinged with the same rate it would if we were to ship state to state. Even still, I'd happily help where I could if we ended up needing a gigantic box or something.
Going back to that picture of the firefighters having a smoke break. If you look you'll see a French helmet followed by a couple German ones, and then book ended on the back by another variation of a French helmet (someone is wearing an American jacket too!). It's very possible that other departments are doing exactly what we're talking about here given the hodgepodge of gear we're seeing in just that ONE picture.
You guys are awesome though. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a good haul, and start the "buttering up" process ;)
tuna55 said:In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Bill,
I have a small contact with a local fire department chief. What sorts of things would you want? I'm happy to cover shipping to a certain point if that helps. Give me anything I can send to the chief, in fact if you want to reuse some text about your efforts there already like you've used for GoFundMe and such, that would be fine. Any pictures or whatnot could be helpful. If this is too big of a thing to ask, I can try and skim through this thread to put something together, but it would still be quite helpful to have a good list of things which would be helpful.
I'll try to get something typed up tomorrow, if that works alright for you. I'm chasing the kids around the house in typical "shool night shenanigans" and was just scrolling through in one of my 2-minute brain breaks
Sorry guys. Something's got me knocked out cold. I had a plugged up head all day yesterday that I thought was just allergies or weather, but it's lookin more like something else today (like a nasty hangover, without the party beforehand).
I'll try to get things done when the fogs lifted
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Oh, no! Rona's going around again back here. Hopefully not the same situation where you are.
Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:Sorry guys. Something's got me knocked out cold. I had a plugged up head all day yesterday that I thought was just allergies or weather, but it's lookin more like something else today (like a nasty hangover, without the party beforehand).
I'll try to get things done when the fogs lifted
We pray every day for you and Vikki, asking God to keep you both safe and to bless the work you're doing.
I'll just adjust slightly to your health as well. Get well soon!
Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:Sorry guys. Something's got me knocked out cold. I had a plugged up head all day yesterday that I thought was just allergies or weather, but it's lookin more like something else today (like a nasty hangover, without the party beforehand).
I'll try to get things done when the fogs lifted
Get well soon, Bill!!! Take care of yourself
AClockworkGarage, tuna55
Jay, Brian thank you, it's BEAUTIFUL!!!
I'M BACK! And thank you everyone! It was just a flu and yesterday I was feeling better. Unfortunately, the world did not stand still while I was out and now I'm frantically getting caught back up. Here's what's happening.
1) I was unable to establish comms with the hospitallers and Rebeka was spotty at best. She did reply that she did not need the needles, so Vikki and I worked a way forward. Which brings us to...
2) we're adopting a medic! Her name is Julia, she's Vikki's friend (hi Vikki) and I'll post pictures of her shortly. With funds donated from you guys to the yahoo paypal we've been able to buy here some thermals, warm socks, and boots for the upcoming winter but she will also be receiving our box of goodies as well. She's asked that we add 30 more needles to our stash and we even had funds to do THAT (which I'm super excited about). E-mails are being exchanged with North American Rescue in Ukraine, and they found us an option that saved us about 50% (and they promise the quality is equivalent) so we're working together to add items to the shipment to finish off our funds (7ea CAT tourniquets are being added at the moment).
3) in the future we'll open a fundraiser through the Yahoo paypal that we can all share for our "adopt a medic" program, but paypal picked this exact moment to be weird. The $300 I transferred to pay for the goods mentioned in #2 have not been deducted from my paypal balance, and I don't feel I can open a fundraiser on PP unless it stops glitching. There's a lot to keep track of financially already and I really cant handle a website that's going to glitch when we're promising support to someone who needs it (read: I cant tell Julia we have $300 worth of stuff to send her, have her depend on it, and then find out that it was a glitch and we actually have $0). When that gets sorted, I'll get that started and post it here.
Now with all that said, I do still have a PO box open for Rebekah and still plan to stand by my promise to deliver to her anything that's sent to it, but nothings arrived yet. We do have a set delivery date towards the beginning of November to get all this stuff to Julia, and we'll continue to support through cash donations or future deliveries.
I will grump though that I went online looking for camouflage snowpants and jacket for Julia (female, size euro small) and what came up in the results was disgustingly pink and fluffy. Absolutely nothing that was useable for a person fighting on a military front. If you guys have any good links to stuff then please share. I would love it if we could get her some warm weather gear.
I think that's all I got. I know it doesn't sound like much, but darn is it busy! I'll see you all on here on Monday and will try to have a proper update then.
I have used these guys, they are in Finland. Let them know what you are doing, they may have other items to help that don't make the webpage. They do surplus, equipment exchanges, and similar.
https://www.varusteleka.com/en
matthewmcl said:I have used these guys, they are in Finland. Let them know what you are doing, they may have other items to help that don't make the webpage. They do surplus, equipment exchanges, and similar.
https://www.varusteleka.com/en
Beautiful! I'll give them a shout and see what they say. Thank you for that!
Woof guys. Apologies for the slow week last week but I am still 100% behind and absolutely buried in disorganization at the moment. I had some big news from the weekend so I wanted to make sure I posted this today:
Ladies and gentlemen, the Kisgorbo shelter has closed its doors. As of this typing, the one remaining mother and her 3-year-old daughter will be relocating to another housing option. Mayor Kozma came to Papa to deliver the message personally and with him he brought some gifts. One was a commemorative poster and frame he had made. I'm afraid a screenshot will have to do for the moment, as any attempt to save the photos from google drive is absolutely crashing my e-mail account for some reason:
Many beers and much whiskey was consumed as we discussed the reasons for the closure. The first and foremost was of course the cost. Mayor Kozma (Gabor) was very appreciative of this forums continued efforts to help him fund the operation. Without it, keeping it open and operating would not have been at all possible. Unfortunately as the school building is listed as a "commercial" building, things like electricity, water, and sewer are exponentially more expensive when billed. Add in the cold weather we have coming, and keeping the doors open was never going to be possible.
There is also a bit of a political challenge involved as roughly 30% of the building is co-owned by two neighboring villages. The mayors in those villages have placed their ownership for sale but without Gabor's knowledge. Only when the real estate agents and lawyers showed up, was the news brought to him. It's unfortunate, but I think we can understand that the finished building that Gabor has worked so hard to construct now has value that the abandoned building didn't when this war started (there is talk of converting it to a Hostel for bikers and backpackers, among other things).
And then there's the maintenance. It's a big BIG building for only two occupants. Rooms, roofs, and living areas all need to be kept up and it's becoming less and less possible to do so. Gabor reported a rodent infestation despite their best efforts to take care of the situation.
I still have one more gift from Gabor to open, and I'll do a much better job of elaborating on everything when it's not Monday, but Gabor does have three more posters printed and ready to be shipped. These will be delivered to GRM headquarters as soon as the two of us are able to coordinate (not possible with the amount we drank that night). Looking to the future, we have Vikki to the rescue again :P We will use any donated funds to our Gmail paypal to fund her "mothers and children" effort. This will now be an "every month" thing instead of rationing out funds on our previous tri-monthly basis.
Most of our other funds don't have much to update, but I do have a date set for my next delivery. This will be to Julia, our adopted medic!
I know we're a close family here and now Julia is a part of it, but for her safety we will be hiding her face. One, if not more, box arrived today. I'm expecting delivery of both her boots and her thermals + socks. I did get the issue with paypal sorted, and the balance being displayed is correct. The issue, it turns out, arose because I thought I was selecting my bank's debit card to pay only for the fees. I must have goofed it up because in addition to covering the fees, my bank card ate the whole amount. I've since fixed it, but the confusion came from the delay showing the positive balance in Julia's account (+$300), paypal still displaying its balance ($300), and USAA not showing the withdraw of funds until almost 2-working days later (which included a weekend). Only now am I un-confusing stuff, so I hope that all makes sense to you. Parallel to that, I was trying to work a different portion of Julia's balance within a gnat's ass to get her as much stuff from North American Rescue as possible. I'll be honest though, for a second there it was looking like I had got a free $300 from Paypal due to their error and the idea of a perpetual $300 balance to keep sending to Julia was sounding mighty tempting.
Anyhoo. I'll get things unwrapped when I get back to the house, pictures saved to a device that wont crash when I try, and post something more coherant tomorrow.
Cheers, guys!
oh. You may have noticed that Gabor's double-six is running. It 100% drives as good as it looks. We parked it after getting a burger, and then walked to the town center for the drinks
Hi everyone!
I still haven't shared the moms feedback with you afterward the April run 
I really apologize, but I can't always write on time. But i'll try to do my best, i promise 
In reply to VikkiDp :
Vikki, that was AMAZING! Thank you for making that!
The main message of this run - sweets and gifts were a pleasant surprise for all the families. It made people feel that we remember them and we support them and they can count on our help.
So I think we did a very important thing and adding some moments of happiness for the kids is always a great idea
What else was incredible - I just walked Bill to the truck, showed him the way (yeah, it was like a road in Africa a little, but it's a great shortcut and Google maps won't show you that). As soon as the taillights of the truck were out of sight I went back into the house and what!!!??? right away i got a message from one of the moms - they already!!! received their package!!! and already sent me the photo!!! wow-wooowww-wooowww!!! i can't believe that!!! We only sent the packages a few hours ago, Bill hasn't even left the city yet and the kids have already gotten their gifts!!! Can you believe it? Can you imagine it?
That's just unbelievable!!!
Also another small goal (of mine) has been accomplished 
I gave Bill some authentic Ukrainian borscht I wanted him to try this dish, but i had to be sure it's real and delicious, so i made it myself for him.
Well, we can mark the point that everything went very well here too and it was the GREAT run
Thanks to everyone!!!
It's time for me to start writing about the August run
VikkiDp said:It's time for me to start writing about the August run
I'm only laughing because I'm equally behind
Apologies for the delay everyone, I did get the pictures taken of the gifts from Kisgorbo I've just been way too darn behind to post them here. This is what Mayor Kozma made for us:
Right now, the astute among you are saying the same thing my eldest Hungarling did when we unveiled the poster (whispering) "Dad. The Ukrainian flag is upside down"
Buddy. That is how you know it was made by the man who gave it to us.
I really do hope you guys can read what Mayor Kozma wrote on whatever device you're using right now. if you can't, this is for you:
Outstanding Cooperation In Times of War
There are human relationships where we do not prove ourselves with words, but with actions. Neither language, nor distance, borders or ideology could stand between us. It could mean the same for everyone. The Kisgorbo School Shelter was raised as a dream at the beginning of a real war. In March of 2022, everything worked out fine since we let the war affect us and we could not stand idly by when hundreds and thousands of Ukrainian people fled from their country. When all of a sudden families, grandmothers, fragile mothers, and unwashed children clutching their bags were standing at the doorstep of our homes. When the dust of the long journey of escape sticks to everyone!
The Grassroots Motorsport community immediately understood what had to be done and what a shelter filled with refugees needed. You made my work possible with your support and provided financial security for nearly 550 days, giving me strength ad confidence even when I was about to give up. A mayor is not a wizard, he only has exactly as much power as the citizens, organizations, and the community supporting him. The Grassroots Motorsport community and William Grow himself have given me and our refugees a huge amount of confidence. Your disciplined, transparent communication and financial support made it possible throughout this period for refugee neighbors to spend a total of 5,400 nights in Kisgorbo School Shelter.
Now our journey ends here. Dear friends from overseas who love cars and motorcycles, take care and all the best! Thank you for everything on behalf of the refugees.
October 1, 2021
Mayor Gabor Kozma
(Anna, Sztvetlana, Olga, Anasztazia, Anhelina, Mira, Julia, Miroslava, Tatjana, Alina, Jana, Misha, Margareta, Alexander.... and many others)
There were more copies made, and they are currently on their way to GRM HQ as we speak.
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Bill, that's beyond awesome and quite the tribute to your hard work. I'm so glad you found Mayor Gabor and the shelter. Nicely done sir, nicely done.
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
You're a man among men, and I appreciate sharing the planet with you and so many of the people involved with these efforts.
Thanks guys. Thank you everyone! The idea that we were able to create a safe, warm, and comfortable place for people who had lost everything to take refuge and sleep in peace means the absolute world to me.
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