TheOnlyXBK

Sorry to hear you've been so unlucky with charities; my family has actually had quite a good experience with them. Try reaching out to Caritas Ukraine - they were quite responsive.

It's a huge org that spends huge money on its functioning without actually doing anything useful.

Since Feb 24, 2022:

• They spent money on opening a new office in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, to "organize" aid, particularly to Mariupol.
• They proceeded to "negotiate" evacuation convoys from Mariupol, just to never actually appear to escort them, staying in a relatively safe city at the end point of the route. The convoys were either canceled or came under fire.
• In the spring, they made a big deal of delivering drinking water to Dnipro. That was a whole of two trucks of luxury Romanian mineral water, hauled across half of Ukraine to a huge city that stands on one of the largest rivers in Europe and had no issues with running potable water at the time.
• Their committees were regularly found to rent whole floors in expensive hotels, staying there for weeks on end.
• and so on and so forth.

Generally speaking, the ICRC as the core org seems to be a bureaucratic behemoth that spends a lot of money on pretending to do things. The local branches are actually much more hands-on (Ukrainian Red Cross actually tries to do what they can, delivering food supplies and other stuff) but the amount of funding and direct donations they receive compared to the core organization is incomparable.

If you mean from a civilian standpoint and to humanitarian needs - then I suggest the Ukrainian Zgraya and the Dutch Zeilen van Vrieheid charities. The former has several aid directions (tactical medicine, the co-founder is currently in Bakhmut providing aid to UAF and local citizens there; supporting refugees and locals at the frontline with food and other necessities; civilian evac; animal evac and shelter; direct UAF support with equipment and supplies). The latter helps fund, procure and deliver emergency vehicles to Ukraine, which is extremely important for frontline cities because the russians target fire stations and hospitals all the time.

Do NOT donate to the International Red Cross.

Hello, brother. Sorry for all you had to go through and all you lost. We were a couple of dozen kilometers from you at the time, probably. Hope everything works out for you and your daughter. Stay strong.

As I'm required by the rules to ask something - how bad is it with your home, might it be salvageable?

Thanks for your support!

Hopefully it's an actual targeted fund run by the Canadian Red Cross and not just a funnel to the ICRC's coffers. I would look into your local charities and activities organized by the diaspora in Canada if you consider further support - I know a lot of people are moving to Canada and need some help there.