This month, people around the world feel shocked. Overwhelmed. We unite in grief and sorrow and hope that the horrendous war crime happening in the very heart of Europe, in a beautiful country with ancient history — Ukraine, will be stopped.
We are an international team, and our colleagues are located all over the world. Several of our team members are in Ukraine and Russia, and we are doing our best to support and help them to safety. Gift Baskets Overseas historically has close ties with both Ukraine and Russia, and now we openly condemn the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
For all of March 2022, 10% of our profit from CIS sales will go toward helping support those in Ukraine by donating to humanitarian efforts to help civilians.
GBO Update on Team Members in Ukraine
As mentioned above, some of our team members live and work in Ukraine. Those who decided to leave the country are getting full support in relocation to Poland and other neighboring countries. The company is providing them financial support for their move and accommodations.
At the same time, some of our team members who are located in less-affected regions of Ukraine joined the volunteer movement to help Ukrainians moving from Kyiv, Kharkiv, and other cities under direct assault. They are getting full support from their managers in securing compensation and all benefits for those dedicating their time to humanitarian work now.
GBO Efforts to Help People of Ukraine – Updated March 22
A huge thank you to everyone who has reached out asking how to donate directly to those who need it most.
If you would like to help people in need get vital supplies (food, clothes, medicine) you can donate through us using the following PayPal Link – Please make sure that you put in the note “Donation for Ukraine”.
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/giftbasketsoverseas
As of March 22 – We have donated over $8000 to get vital supplies to those in need.
The first fundraiser we started assisting was started by the Kyiv School of Economics.
The first goal of the fundraiser started by KSE is to raise USD 2,500,000 by March 4th, 2022, to assist vulnerable people in Ukraine and help ensure safety for those who can not do so without help.
Now, they aim to reach 10,000,000!
If you’d like to donate directly to maximize help in this time of need, please follow either of these links:
KSE Instagram
KSE Direct Donation
We joined humanitarian efforts in Ukraine to donate 10% of our CIS Sales in March 2022 to the cause. Once the goal above is achieved all the funds collected from our sales will go to different volunteer and medical organizations providing help to the people of Ukraine.
In addition to that, as some of our team members remaining in less affected areas of Ukraine joined the volunteer movement to provide help and support to displaced people, we also send monetary support to these groups of volunteers as well.
Update on Our Team in Russia
Gift Baskets Overseas has a large Russia-based team. None of our team members supports and appreciates current policy and actions by the government. Some of them have already decided to move outside of the country. Each team member is receiving support in this decision and in relocation itself, not only emotionally but financially.
Here, I would like to share some of the stories they shared to make the situation they are in and their feelings clear. For reasons obvious, we do not mention their real names and locations in Russia:
The situation in Russia is terrifying, the government is trying to suppress the opposition, free massmedia and peaceful protests by all means.Some people don’t really understand what’s going on, and support Putin or don’t care at all. I don’t blame these people, they don’t understand that the life can be better, they are used to deficit and haven’t travelled anywhere to compare what life can be.My friends and I are planning to move to Georgia for now, but we are afraid we don’t make it on time and borders will be closed.I’ve created a chat where we support each other and share information.We have also a chat with our friend from Ukraine but we haven’t heard from her 2 days… She warned us she had problems with connection, so we are waiting for her and constantly monitoring the situation.So what can I say, except our lives now are full of anxiety, our dreams are ruined and we feel lost.That’s how it is for russians who don’t support the war, never wanted it, have friends/relatives in Ukraine and are educated enough to understand the current situation and prognose some possible consequences.We hope the situation will get better, but we don’t really believe it
GBO’er in Russia moving to Georgia
Another account comes from the team member who decided to move out of the country immediately after the news broke out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They moved to Mexico as it was still possible, and from there, addressed all the colleagues, but this address looks relevant to people of Russia:
Now that we’re here out of Russia and in Mexico, there are different cycles of the kinds of doubts that usually attack you: some of those cycles we have now processed, talked through and left behind, while some, I’m sure, have yet to strike us, but as a person who’s recently been through the kinds of doubts you guys might be having right now, I would like, if you allow me, to assure you of the following:
NOBODY is underestimating how tough making such a decision is. Everyone who is now in your position has “the unknown, the terrifying, the uncomfortable, the potentially lonely” versus “the familiar, the only somewhat scary as of now, the well-lived-in, the precious (people, things, places)” on the halves of your inner balance scale. We’re NOT saying: “hey, we did it, so why don’t you guys stop being pussies and join us” — we recognize how vastly different different people’s circumstances can be. It’s okay to give yourself some time to ponder; just be aware that at the same time, the window of potential solutions might be shrinking by the day, and we should not be blind to that.
If and when you decide to leave, let the Patronus that wards off any dementors be the fact that YOU ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER. Whatever challenges you are now imagining that Distant Foreign Country will present to you, are in all likelihood going to be much less harrowing than what would befall you if you were to stay.
If and when you decide to stay, though, you must have your reasons — the only thing I’m asking is that you make sure that the reason you’re staying is NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE UNDERINFORMED. (Sorry to be so blunt, but: if you’re catching yourself thinking “but it’s probably all going to be fine” most of the time, double- and triple-check how many hours you’ve invested in your political and news-cycle research in the last few days.) Make sure you appreciate the risks of staying fully — if you know you do, then stick to your decision and allow zero assholes to guilt you for it.
GBO’er in Mexico, moved from Russia last week
Update on Order Processing and Delivery in Ukraine
At this moment, we are unable to guarantee an exact delivery date for deliveries in some affected areas of the country. We will update you about the expected delivery date upon receiving your order.
Delivery to the following locations in Ukraine is still possible:
| Boryspil’ |
| Dnipro |
| Lviv |
| Kryvyi Rih |
| Khmelnytskyi |
| Vinnytsia |
| Cherkasy |
| Kropyvnytskyi |
| Zaporizhia |
| Uzhgorod |
| Donetsk |
| Luhansk |
| Stryi |
| Drohobych |
| Chernivtsi |
| Rivne |
| Ternopil |
| Lutsk |
| Kovel |
| Varash |
| Poltava |
| Kamianske |
| Kremenchuk |
| Oleksandriya |
| Novomoskovs’k |
| Pryluky |
| Horishni Plavni |
| Ivano-Frankivsk |
| Kamianets-Podilskyi |
| Mukacheve |
| Kolomyia |
| Odessa |
| Sumy |
| Nizhyn |
| Izmayil |
| Nikopol |
| Pavlohrad |
| Bila Tserkva |
| Kramators’k |
| Melitopol |
| Uman |
| Berdychiv |
| Shostka |
| Korosten’ |
| Marhanets’ |
| Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi |
| Svitlovods’k |
| Voznesensk |
| Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi |
| Drohobych |
| Kalush |
| Novohrad-Volynskyi |
| Lubny |