Cash to Ukraine
Dmitrii Gubarev lives with his daughter and family in Svitlovodsk, Central Ukraine. He lives midway between Kyiv (180 miles) and Dnipro (90 miles). Dmitrii and I became acquainted last year when I purchased one of his beautiful Guda Drums whilst setting up The Rhythm Practice. He had a thriving business making and selling these unique hand pan instruments around the world but has understandably ceased production for now.
I have been in contact with Dmitrii and his Guda Drum organisation since the war started. Whilst the fighting has not yet touched his city he is currently consumed with making preparations to defend his home town and helping deliver humanitarian supplies to the civilians trapped in cities that are under fire.
I noticed the other day that an American friend of his was sending him money to help and it dawned on me that I still have a direct link from my bank account to his in Ukraine. Dmitrii confirmed that the bank accounts are still working and that access to money is extremely and immediately helpful so I have hatched a plan……
I have two gigs coming up and during both of these gigs I am going to encourage audience members to bring along cash if they wish to send financial support to Ukraine. The gigs are on 23rd March (Acapela, Cardiff) and 25th March (Chapel Arts Centre, Bath). For those of you are not able to come to a concert to donate cash but who would still like to help then you can simply transfer money to me. The bank account I have connected to Guda Drum is an old account with a balance of zero. On Saturday 26th March I will deposit all the cash raised and any other donated funds in full, directly to Dmitrii in Ukraine to support the people of Ukraine.
Bank account details are as follows:
William Lawton
Account Number: 28627717
Sort Code: 52-21-30
If, over the next ten days, the banking system collapses making it impossible to send funds direct to Dmitrii then all funds will be donated to a charity working with Ukraine.
These pictures show the work that Dmitrii and his friends are doing to support his fellow citizens. The map shows where they are based in Ukraine. Please help by sending money directly into the heart of this country to a place where we know it will help and to people we trust. Thank you.
I know that we could set this up as a JustGiving/fundraising project but my fear is that will just slow things down, JustGiving will charge a handling fee and there is a delay before funds are released. This way is quick and direct :)