Some D.C.-area residents are trying to raise enough money to send a specially equipped truck to Ukraine as part of a nationwide grassroots fundraising campaign.
Bethesda, Maryland, resident Jeffrey Bloch is helping lead Maryland’s effort through the 50 States for Ukraine campaign. The group is trying to raise $13,000 for a vehicle for use by a Ukrainian military unit.
Funds raised through 50 States for Ukraine are used by the organization Car for Ukraine to purchase, modify and deliver vehicles. According to the fundraising website, efforts in neighboring D.C. and Virginia have already raised enough money to fund multiple vehicles.
“These are not really the large military vehicles or tanks, things like that, that are normally associated with government aid packages, but they are a bit smaller vehicles that are not covered under these aid packages, but they’re very urgently needed on the ground,” Bloch said.
He said Maryland volunteers have raised nearly half the money needed for a truck. Similar fundraising efforts in neighboring Washington, D.C., and Virginia have already funded multiple vehicles.
Bloch said many of the people involved in the effort do not have personal ties to Ukraine.
“I don’t have a drop of Ukrainian blood, but let me tell you there’s a lot of people I have met through these organizations that are also similar to me, they don’t have any Ukrainian connection per se, but are very supportive of Ukraine and want to do what they can to help,” Bloch said.
In Ukraine, volunteer Rebecca Boone Wolf helps deliver vehicles obtained through the campaign. She is an American from Arizona who currently lives in Kyiv.
She said Car for Ukraine typically purchases and modifies vehicles that are no more than 10 years old before turning them over to military units.
“A lot of the times they are using the trucks to evac injured soldiers off the front line or to do what they call like a rotation, they drive in quickly, pick up people, drop people off, and then drive out quickly,” Boone Wolf said.
She said the vehicles also serve as a visible sign of support from Americans, with the name of the state that helped fund a vehicle added before delivery.
“The fact that I show up with a truck that has this 50 states symbol on it, right? It has all this American stuff,” Boone Wolf said. “They feel supported. They feel like they haven’t been forgotten.”
If Maryland reaches its fundraising goal, the vehicle purchased through the campaign would carry the state’s name before being delivered overseas, organizers said.
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