I know that when the war first started, which I cannot believe is now more than 6 months ago, there were many people sharing links on ways to help, whether by donation or by actually traveling to the Polish border to help refugees. I shared many of these, as I have a close personal connection to Ukraine (family heritage, friends, and business associates) and my heart bleeds for what has happened to their country, unprovoked.
Many of the complaints were that you didn’t know how your money would be spent, which was fair.
I got an email last week from an organization that will match you up directly with a Ukrainian in need of airfare, which you can donate via your airline miles.
Safe Passage 4 Ukraine is an all-volunteer program which helps people fleeing the war in Ukraine get to safe long-term destinations.
What I love about the program is that you are directly connected with the person you are helping. So you have an actual connection that you can both feel good is legitimate and feed good generally, knowing the gratitude from the person or family you are helping.
You can learn more here.
No doubt, some will wonder if this is legitimate.
The CEO of Safe Passage 4 Ukraine is Rachel Jamison. When she reached out, I cross-referenced her to her NYU faculty page and sent an email to her NYU address just to be sure this was all on the up and up. She replied via her NYU account to confirm, so I believe this is legitimate.
If you have any questions, just let me know.
Thoughts?
Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram for all sorts of tips on miles, points, credit cards, and travel.
If this post helped you, please consider sharing it!
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
