Courtesy photo – Orphans and their caretakers take refuge in a basement in Kyiv, Ukraine.

UPDATE: For updated info on how you can help visit @ukraineorphan on Facebook or by visiting the organization’s website here.

Clarke and Kris Stoesz live in Berthoud but a part of their hearts are nearly 6000 miles away in Ukraine. As Russia continues its invasion and war descends on the country of over 40 million people, the couple is doing everything they can to help those whose lives they have become so connected to.

The Stoesz love for the Ukrainian people began over two decades ago when they adopted a child from that country, a former part of the Soviet Union that has been independent since 1991. Through that experience and three more adoptions, the Ukraine Orphan Outreach was born. The nonprofit founded by the couple has evolved over the years from helping guide other families to adopt, to hosting summer camps for Ukrainian children, hosting service trips and as Clarke put it, “helping those that have been left behind.”

The decidedly broken orphanage system in Ukraine was a product of the Soviet era when children were placed in institutional orphanages that also functioned as makeshift schools in isolated areas away from communities. “It was a matter of out of sight out of mind” Kris said.

In recent years Ukraine has made an effort to dramatically revamp its approach to the more than 100,000 children within the system by promoting adoption within Ukraine and implementing foster care and family-centered care among other reforms. Although the situation is improving there is still a long way to go to help these children, particularly after they age out at 16 to thrive.

Currently, Ukraine Orphan Outreach through a partnership with Agape Ministries maintains two homes for young adults who have aged out of orphanages. House of Grace for boys located in Kramartors’k, Ukraine and House of Hope for girls located in Kherson. Both homes have house parents with a family-centered lifestyle.

Kris explained, “It’s a lost demographic, so many people want to take care of the babies – we take care of the kids who are forgotten about. Our goal is to break that chain of orphans making orphans.”

Photo by Oksana Gorbunova – A women and her family take refuge in a basement.

Additionally, the organization helps support single mothers who have aged out of the system and along with another partner organization provided a home for a family that lost everything and was displaced through previous conflicts with Russia in eastern Ukraine.

With the current conflict violently escalating, when asked what she was feelings Kris said, “I’m exhausted, I feel helpless, I find myself scrolling online trying to find out what’s happening, but I know I need to stay focused on what my task at hand is – to help the people over there.”

Courtesy photo – House of Hope residents Anya and Oksana stand beside house mother Nedezda celebrating a birthday in Kherson, Ukraine before the Russian invasion.

The task for the moment is to help their friends and partners stay safe.

The organization is sending funds daily and hoping the means to transfer the money remain available. At the beginning of the week, Clarke said, “The funds we are sending now are just absolute crisis mode for survival,” providing food, gas, medicine and hiring drivers doing whatever it takes to evacuate and get women, children and the elderly to safety. Men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been asked by the government to stay and fight, and fight they are.

The couple said they are thankful they have been able to stay in contact with the homes as well as friends, partner organization and many of the family members of their four adopted children through their phones, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

The Stoesz said the situation is fluid and every update that everyone is ok brings a sense of relief. “As soon as you get that update you just don’t know, and you just want to ask them again – you’re constantly feeling like you just don’t know when they’re going to be secure because it’s still escalating it hasn’t even crescendoed,” Clarke said.

As of Tuesday, the area around the boy’s home in the Donetsk region has remained relatively calm as the home is on the outskirts of the area in the East of Ukraine already claimed by Russia. The town the girl’s home is located in has been under heavy fire as the Stoesz say the community is, “trying to hang on to their city.” Both homes still had utilities but have been ordered by Ukrainian officials to keep all lights off at night.

Courtesy photo – Damage in Zhytomyr Ukraine, about 90 miles west of the capital Kyiv, the town where two of the Stoesz children were adopted from.

The couple explained the organization’s director in Ukraine, Oksana, spent the first 36 hours of the Russian invasion driving not only her children to safety in Moldova as the lines to enter Poland were up to 8 miles long but helped evacuate many others. She finally got to a place she could rest and 6 hours later Clarke says, “It’s like you just woke up a 5-star general she is ready to move coordinating people, she’s on fire…it’s so inspiring to see her courage through it all.”

A friend and former director of a partner organization in the country Alex, a native Ukrainian drove his wife and two daughters to Poland hitchhiking back to their home city to fight. “We talk to them and it just crushes your heart because this is a guy that’s always been serving, always positive, he’s got a joke every time we talk to him, he speaks 5 languages, he is so brilliant. But to hear him when he was broken saying I just realized “My family are refugees” it’s hard,” Clarke said.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi as of Tuesday, more than 677,000 people have flooded into neighboring countries including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Romania requiring a massive response to an ongoing humanitarian crisis. The U.N. also estimates as many as 4 million could seek refuge in other countries in the coming weeks.

Courtesy photo – The boys living at House of Grace sit down to dinner together prior to invasion.

For now, the couple says monetary donations are the most effective way to help. Donations can be given by visiting ukraineorphans.org and clicking the “Support Us” link at the bottom of the page.

Kris said as the needs change their board will balance where the funds are sent and discuss where they can best meet the needs of the people including providing for refugees who may potentially come to Berthoud and eventually rebuilding the country.

“We’re a small organization but we are mighty with the dollar over there we can do a lot,” Kris said

The Stoesz are hopeful that Ukraine will remain independent through the passion and strength of its people joined by support from around the world.