February 2023 Update

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February 26, 2023

Spending three weeks at home might sound like a vacation, but for me and Alexander Zharov it turned out to be quite the opposite. Our ambulance was down for major engine repair, but we had no time to rest. Instead, we worked an average of twelve hours per day. There was so much paperwork to be done, and we had to keep fundraising to support our upcoming missions.

Also, another shipment of medical supplies was sent to Ukraine (270 lbs, $463 for the shipping).

We flew out of JFK on the 21st but on the way there we stopped in NJ at the Medshare warehouse to pick up about 170 lbs of medical supplies. We took some with us and Julia Orlova brought back the rest to MA. It will be shipped very soon.

On the 22nd, we arrived at the base and immediately went to bed after almost thirty-six hours without sleep. The next day, we picked up our ambulance, but we had to drive it to the mechanic again because the check engine light was on. We lost one of the sensors, and it needed to be ordered. Hopefully, it will be fixed next week.

On the 24th, we went to Lviv at 5 am for a meeting with some officials and local volunteers. We were also supposed to bring some disabled people from Lviv, but unfortunately, our potential clients didn't have the proper papers to cross the border. We had to go back empty. On the border, a border guard sent us to a detailed custom inspection, which usually takes around two hours. However, the custom officer looked at us with an "Ambulance? Seriously?!" expression and kicked us out in less than thirty minutes.

Today we gave our big tent that we weren't using to RFU with a promise that they would return it upon request. We will spend tomorrow preparing for our next mission, and on Monday, we should go to Kherson.
Alexander Smirnov