Stand With Ukraine

Photo by Egor Lyfar on Unsplash

“Look at this.” Denny held up his phone screen.

Les squinted, reading the print under a picture of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. “Yeah, looks like a good idea. Matching donations to Ukraine with a million dollars of their own.”

Denny scowled. “Celebrities should just give their own money. They shouldn’t try to extort it from the rest of us.”

“What?”

“Seriously. They’re rich. Why don’t they just give all their money. They could fund this on their own.”

Les shook his head. “First of all, Ukraine needs a lot more money than they have. Second, nobody has to donate with them if they don’t want to. It’s not extortion, it’s encouragement. A million dollars is a lot of money. And Ryan and Blake give to a lot of causes.”

Denny mumbled something under his breath, fiddling on his phone.

“Anyway, I already saw that article,” Les said. “I gave what I could afford. Ukraine needs all the help it can get.” He looked pointedly at Denny. “Nobody’s twisting your arm. Don’t give if you don’t want to. Nobody will know.”

Denny gave Les a sheepish grin. “I just donated. I guess if Ryan and Blake can give a million, I can manage a few dollars.”

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I considered holding this story until Tuesday, but Ukraine needs help now. I wrote it after my daughter told me about someone on social media expressing the sentiments I gave to Denny. No one has to give, but attacking someone who is trying to do something good just rubs me the wrong way!

Here is where you can have a donation matched by Ryan and Blake.

Here’s a link to the Canadian Red Cross.

There are other ways to donate to support Ukraine. If you give, please be careful and make sure the organization to which you donate is legitimate as there are fraudulent sites. If you give by following either of the links provided, your money will reach Ukraine.