Small but mighty

United Help Ukraine is a great charity. It gets a top rating from Charity Navigator; it’s listed among charities with the greatest bang-for-the-buck; and it has sent Ukraine $86.5 million in aid.

I’ve been making monthly donations to United Help Ukraine for several years now. But I’m switching. Here’s who I’m switching to, and why.

The charity is called Sunflower Seeds. It’s the brainchild of Patrick Grace, my first publisher. It’s tiny compared to United Help Ukraine.

But unlike United Help Ukraine, Sunflower Seeds is 100% volunteer, meaning it can send Ukraine nearly everything it can raise. Even standout charities like United Help Ukraine have payrolls to meet.

When Patrick first told me about Sunflower Seeds, I was moved. Gee I thought, here’s one ordinary guy taking it upon himself to do something for poor beleaguered Ukraine. The least I can do is pitch in a few bucks, which I did on the spot.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Sunflower Seeds isn’t alone. There are lots of little grassroots charities like it. Sunflower Seeds couldn’t do what it does without the help of some of them.

What a grassroots charity needs to succeed, though, is a networker. A super-networker. A guy like John Yeager.

I had a lengthy phone conversation the other day with John. He's a retired Presbyterian pastor who took the reins at Sunflower Seeds after Patrick got it off the ground.

That was three years ago. Since then super-networker John has made connection after connection. Here are just a few:

Two larger grassroots charities already sending help to Ukraine;

A weekly YouTube video about Ukraine aid;

A Marshall University student filmmaker who made an award-winning documentary about Ukraine;

A 5K fun run;

A Christmas craft sale;

A cannabis dispensary that gives them rent-free office space in back. The dispensary owner is a Ukrainian émigré.

One of the earliest connections was with Orange (pron. oh-RAHNZH), a city of 84,100 in the south of France. Orange already was sending aid to Ukraine. That came about after super-networker John connected with Dr. Sandrine Pierre, a professor at Marshall University’s School of Medicine in Huntington who is from Orange.

Another doctor, Marc Subik M.D., was instrumental in collecting thousands of perfectly good medical supplies that get thrown away every day as ‘surplus.’ The left-handed glove in a package where the doctor only needs the right hand – that sort of thing.

In the past three years, Sunflower Seeds has sent Ukraine 96 boxes of ‘surplus’ needles, syringes, gowns, tubing, etc.

Three years. 100% volunteer. Ordinary folks who saw a need and filled it.

Sunflower Seeds’ goal had been $100,000 of aid but it’s aiming higher now. The new goal: $250,000 in cash and kind.

I want to help. Maybe you do too. Just click here.

Frank S Joseph Author

P.S. To Walk Humbly, Book II of my award-winning Chicago Trilogy, has been racking up commendations. One I'm particularly proud of comes from Kirkus Reviews, the 'gold standard' review service for booksellers and libraries. Kirkus called To Walk Humbly "A vibrant tale of 1950s Chicago." Here's more from Kirkus:

"The richly developed characters, including Dora, an aging Sunday school teacher who works for the Feinbergs as a maid, and Ezell, a boy with a stutter who has a natural ability to defuse conflict, are among the book’s strengths."

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P.P.S. I hope you love reading To Walk Humbly. If you do, posting a review would be deeply appreciated.