Dear friends –

Somehow we are just two days away from departure. An incredible amount of time and energy has gone in to get us where we are right now – on the cusp of our fourth trip to Ukraine. As the conflict hangs in the balance, we as a team are so incredibly grateful to have this opportunity, and we owe that to you. I am so proud of this team and their commitment to providing this critical training at this dynamic point of the war. I am equally thankful to you for allowing me to put these amazing people – not just top of the line trainers, but some of the best people I know – in the right place to do this work.

We were also gifted some of the best training equipment in the world from our friends at Strategic Medical Research and Training. This gear will improve our training in incredible ways by allowing our students to visualize the concepts we are teaching. As a small organization, gifts like this are valuable past measure. While we have generous donations, there is no way we could have afforded even one of these kits. A donation of this kind not only gives us the best material available, but also means that we can use our donated funds to go directly into medical supplies that will be donated to our Ukrainian friends and students. In an effort like ours, literally everything matters, and this was a huge boon for us as a team and for those that we serve in Ukraine.

Our trip will take us first to Poland, then on to Ukraine. We are watching the potential airport worker strike in Germany and hoping that it doesn’t impact our timeline – or our bags arriving! We will be taking 14 bags with us, almost all of which is training gear and material that has been donated to us and will be further gifted within Ukraine. Again, all of the donations of material ensure that we can allocate your donations against medical supplies. We will be stopping in to see our old friends at Dnirpo Tourniquet on our first day in country to pick up our initial order of 200 tourniquets – all made possible by your donations. I have included picture of both what my garage looks like right now with all 14 bags packed, inventoried, and weighed – it’s a lot! I have also included pictures of some initial training and equipment familiarization we did with the SMRT training kits. We are so incredibly fortunate.

I will keep you updated as we travel and start our latest mission into Ukraine. The situation remains dire and the needs as great as ever. I thank you so much for your support in allowing us this opportunity.

In gratitude – Mike