Today, on International Women's Day, we want to continue to bring attention to support the health and well-being of Ukrainian women who, like many of us, are entrepreneurs, feminists and mothers.
"The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights." -Gloria Steinem, Feminist, Journalist & Activist
We’ve all been watching the news in horror as Russia continues to invade Ukraine. 7.5 million children are caught in the crossfire of war, pregnant women are forced to flee their home and give birth in bomb shelters and mothers are desperate to find safety for their babies.
This unprovoked violence is inexcusable. Innocent people, including children, are dying and suffering every day because of one man’s hunger for power and disregard for human life.
There are so many organizations working tirelessly to help those in desperate need of food, shelter and medicine.
Bonsie proudly partners with Welcome Baby, USA, an organization that donates a month of basic supplies to mothers in need. A Welcome Baby package includes 220 diapers, a month’s supply of wipes, bottles, pacifiers, a baby carrier, swaddles, baby wash, clothing and diaper creams.
Welcome Baby is working with two organizations: Global Empowerment Mission and Razom. They’re each receiving Welcome Baby packages to distribute to pregnant or newly postpartum Ukrainian refugees in Poland and Ukraine.
Sarah Steinhardt, co-founder of Welcome Baby, said the following:
“As always, Welcome Baby’s mission is to provide women and newborns in need with the basic, critical, essential items they need in the first month of life. The women we’re serving in Ukraine are giving birth while fleeing for their lives, displaced from their communities and families, bringing babies into a world that is torn apart and on fire."
"The very least we can do is help them provide basic necessities for their babies.”
Sarah and her team are also in direct contact with two hospitals taking in and caring for pregnant Ukrainian women: Centrum Medczyne Zelazna, in Warsaw, Poland, and Siemiradzki Hospital, in Krakow, Poland. Both have an influx of pregnant women fleeing Ukraine, women who have been separated from their communities, homes, family members and local resources.
20 packages have been sent to Global Empowerment Mission and 35+ will be shipped this coming week to Razom and the two hospitals in Warsaw and Krakow.
Here’s an email received earlier in the week from the Warsaw hospital:
Dear Sarah,
Thank you very much for your email.
You’ve got great timing - we’ve already a few pregnant patients from Ukrainia who escaped from war. We would be really thankful if you could support us and send these packages.
It will really help us - we are ready for more Ukrainians.
Best regards,
Margaret
Please consider a donation to Welcome Baby, USA to help mothers and their newborn babies.
Follow along with their work on Instagram and Facebook @welcomebabyusa.
Sources:
The Seattle Time: Here’s to the memory of Gloria Steinem and the other women who struggled for equality
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/herersquos-to-the-memory-of-gloria-steinem-and-the-other-women-who-struggled-for-equality/