Today The War In Ukraine Became Personal.

It only took a trip to my parking garage.

I began my hard trek back to daily writing on Medium nine days ago with a piece asking readers to support Ukrainian knitting designers.

At the time, the war seemed far away, and I woke up this morning with the bombing in Ukraine still over 6,000 miles away from my home in San Francisco.

Still close enough to break my heart, of course.

An hour later, the war raged in my garage when the owner told me his wife’s parents live in Kharkiv.

He’d just been on his phone trying to get news if they were still alive.

About a dozen years ago, I began parking my car in the two-story garage Ahmed owns around the corner from my apartment.

He’s always been charming and friendly to me, and though not close, we’ve come to share some news about ourselves. His excitement when his two children were born. His concern when I’ve had to take my car from his garage to park at my daughter’s house during surgeries and the lockdown.

As it turned out, I stored my car at my daughter’s for almost three years. Who knew?

When I returned to driving, the price of garage rentals had spiked. However, Ahmed allowed me to rent my space at my previous rate.

He’s that kind of guy.

I’ve always assumed from his name and accent that Ahmed’s from a middle-Eastern country, but I’ve never asked. I guess I also assumed he and his wife had the same background. So I was not expecting to hear that his wife was from Ukraine. At that news, I all but burst into tears.

I was already heartbroken and angry about the war, but at that moment, it became personal.

I don’t know his in-laws, but I didn’t have to in order to feel his worry and anger.

He told me his in-laws lived in Kharkiv.

They had refused to leave their home when the war began, and now it was too late. His father-in-law is now fighting Putin’s army. Ahmed said he had sent $1,000 to them to distribute in $50 increments to their friends.

Fifty dollars. It doesn’t seem like much. But it opened my eyes to my posts about Ukrainian digital downloads.

From comments from readers, the idea of buying digital downloads from Ukrainian entrepreneurs is welcome but also not new. Several readers have left comments saying they’re already doing it.

But my conversation with Ahmed renewed my commitment, already strong, to post my daily reminders that we can send a few dollars to people in Ukraine through their digital accounts.

But my conversation with Ahmed renewed my commitment, already strong, to post my daily reminders that we can send a few dollars to people in Ukraine through their digital accounts.

I’m mindful of the vital work done by international aid agencies.

Last night a Ukrainian woman I follow on Twitter asked for donations to Ukraine’s army. So much need, such limited resources.

Yet I believe in my small campaign to help Ukrainian knitting designers and Etsy shop owners by sending small amounts by buying their patterns or other downloadable designs.

Our world has shrunk in the early years of my life when I waited for my two brothers to return from WWII.

At ages 4, 5, and 6, war talk was normal for me.

Seeing men and boys in uniform was normal. Having friends who spoke with a funny English accent while they waited out of harm’s way for the war to end so they could return home was normal.

I can recall air raid sirens and blackout exercises, but they were drills. My brothers came home, and so the war never really touched me. It seemed far away like Ukraine did when I woke up this morning.

But in fact, WWII left a continent upended, millions dead, displaced, and scarred forever.

And here we are again. Today, I only have to meet the owner of my garage to run smack into the carnage in Ukraine.

To urge me to reach deeper into my pockets to help.

After my first post about digital downloads, Kristi Keller wrote that she and her mother were visiting a woman near their home in Canada who sold pierogis to support Ukraine.

I’m sure many of you know an Ahmed, someone in your town, your neighborhood with close connections to Ukraine.

That’s your six degrees of separation. You’re there but for the grace of…

Before the February invasion, Ukrainian cities looked as modern as yours and mine. Now? If you turn on your black and white filter the pictures could come right out of WWII Europe or Japan.

I’d say, please, let’s not go there again, but we already have.

So let’s dig deep to help. Big or small, our donations help.

Ahmed’s many $50's to help his family’s friends, a donation to Doctors Without Borders, and individual downloads of sweaters or crafts on Etsy. They all matter.

So far, I only make pennies for my daily Ravelry posts.

If I make more on these posts, I will give it to Ukraine. The first one got picked up on Google and went viral, but the readers aren’t members, so zip for me. And that’s great because 5k views and 2k reads mean some must translate to money for Ukraine. And that’s what I intended.

Last words:

Every penny counts when you’re starving, displaced, cut off from your loved ones. Here’s one way you can help.

Log on to Ravelry.com.

Sign up if you don’t have an account. Go to the link on their home page that says “follow this link to Ukrainian designers.”

Pick any knitted or crocheted item and click buy.

Pay for it.

That’s all. You don’t have to download it, knit it, or even like it. Just send money.

For Etsy.com, sign up.

Put Ukraine in the search box and pick a downloadable item. Don’t pick something that needs mailing.

Pay for it, and you’re done.

If you have trouble, message me in the comments.

Thank you and Slava Ukraine.

More stories from Helen Cassidy Page:

I’m an editor and writer on Medium with Top Writer status. I’ve published 55 titles on Amazon and edit fiction and non-fiction for private clients. If you’d like to hire me as your editor for fiction, non-fiction, or business writing, please contact me here. If you’d like to read more of my work on Medium, click here to sign up for my newsletter. Thank you for reading, and stay safe.