The last week has been long and hard, especially as details have come to light concerning the brutal massacre of Ukrainian civilians during the Russian occupation of Bucha in Kyiv Oblast. Captive Audience is honored to be able to continue supporting refugees who have fled the Russian invasion, and communities in Ukraine who have remained or are trapped behind enemy lines.
Medical Supplies for 2 Field Hospitals - On Their Way!
Over the past week, we are incredibly thankful to have been able to coordinate the international shipment of not two, but three, pallets of donated miscellaneous medical supplies collected from across 23 hospitals in Illinois.
We were originally coordinating with the Air National Guard to add our pallets to the cargo manifest of an out-of-state flight to Romania when we received a generous offer to fly all three out of Chicago on a medical missions flight.
This offer saved us time, money, and a completely unnecessary step that would have required pickup and transport within the continental US. Our contacts retrieved the pallets on 31 March (last Thursday) and flew them to Hungary, where they have been added to a medical convoy in Ukraine.
Food, Clothing, & 100 Emergency Medical Kits - On Their Way!
We are also incredibly grateful to have coordinated the outfitting of congregations in Bila Tserkva and Uzhgorod with 100 individual first aid kits (IFAKs), food for 250 people, and winter clothing. Those donations arrived in Budapest, Hungary on 1 April (last Friday) and will be transported into Ukraine over land.
Bila Tserkva and Uzhgorod have been flooded with refugees fleeing the war.
The congregations we support have been instrumental in providing critical incident response, humanitarian aid, safe homes, and support to refugees as they flee the ongoing violence.
CISM Support for Chernihiv
Captive Audience has continued to remotely administer critical incident stress management (CISM) support to help reduce Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms for the people of Chernihiv in the aftermath of the violent destruction of an evacuation convoy resulting in the death of one of the volunteer drivers.
As a key city between Belarus and Kyiv, Chernihiv became a major focus as the Russian invasion laid siege to the city of 300,000 on its push towards Kyiv.
Over the course of a month, Chernihiv suffered relentless bombardment, with Russian missiles and mortars intentionally targeting aid convoys, humanitarian corridors, and residential neighborhoods full of civilians.
Chernihiv’s mayor stated at times they buried over a hundred dead in one day. It is estimated more than 50% of the city was destroyed. While half of the population fled, the other half spent weeks huddled underground, as food, water, and electricity were almost entirely cut off by the Russian siege.
Due to the violence Chernihiv’s population has faced, Captive Audience’s CISM training is incredibly vital to stabilizing so many during this crisis.
Additional State-Side Support
Pre-Deployment Trainings & Briefings
for Volunteers & News Agencies
Our team has conducted dozens of emergency medical response pre-deployment training for volunteers delivering vital supplies to Ukraine and security briefings for news agencies sending crews to cover the war.
#500Rising: Preventing Violence Against Women
To continue building skills to provide support for our Ukraine mission, our team attended a three-day seminar through #500Rising centered on educating and training people in vital recognition, prevention, and response skills centered on preventing violence against women.
Medical Training to Support Ukraine
As a team that believes in life-long learning, and keeping our skills sharp, our team also attended a refresher course specializing in outdoor and wilderness medical response.
This was an incredibly timely refresher as Captive Audience continues to support a large number of people who have no access to formal medical care (like those who have fled the war in refugee camps), as well as those trapped in Russian-controlled territories.
We continue to teach as many skills as we can remotely – including medical trauma response using non-medical (household) equipment.
Thank You
Medical & Survival from Grim Workshop
Captive Audience received another donation of medical and survival supplies from Grim Workshop with the promise of one more this week.
These medical and survival supplies have been vital to equipping Ukrainian communities on the ground. Thank you Grim for your continued support!
Invest In Crypto - Support Ukraine
We were also given an extraordinarily generous gift from ADA For Warriors in the form of an ongoing donation from a Cardano pool. This is a unique gift in that it allows people to invest in Cardano cryptocurrency and, in so doing, participate in a monthly donation to Operation Caffeinated Vikings.
We are working across faith lines right now as people are focused on Ramadan, Easter, and Passover. We appreciate every person who has gotten involved, spread the word, and contributed to the work we are doing and respectfully honor those who are in a season of observance or celebration.
Support Ukraine: Donate Now
As always, the Ukrainian communities we support continue to request boots-on-the-ground, in-person aid and training from Captive Audience.
If you would like to support Ukraine and equip multiple communities with emergency medical equipment and life-saving, in-person training for critical survival and emergency medical skills, donate to Operation Caffeinated Vikings below!
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