On Saturday, February 21st UACCH was honored to introduce an amazing fundraising effort by one of the local Ukrainian-born artists, Anatolii Arakelov, to our members and friends at the Q1 meeting.

 

Auction will be ongoing until February 27 and all funds raised will be directed to #SaveLivesTogether foundation for the purchase of CELOX and other IFAK supplies. Save Lives Together is a registered non-profit, and so any donation to the foundation is tax deductible.

 

Please consider bidding and also inviting your friends around the world to join and contribute!
 

 

 

This is what Anatolii writes about the painting :
"I called this painting “Hail”. For most people of the world the word “hail” has only one meaning, but for us, Ukrainians it is something different. It is something thousands of people fear when they go to bed, it is a subject of nightmares, it is something to fear when they wake up. I can not say that I was inspired by anything when painting this piece. There is nothing inspiring here, but I kept someone in my mind. I was thinking about a good friend of mine with whom I spent several years of my life. A friend of mine who was in the Ukrainian special forces... I was thinking that a 19 year-old boy like him should not see his friends killed in front of him... A 19 year-old boy, who has a beautiful life ahead of him, should not be taken a hostage… put in a cold, dark, dirty basement... He should not be beaten, tortured, exposed to cold water and electricity, wounded and bruised… He should not be taken to a field… given a shovel… forced to dig a hole in the soil of his homeland… only to be given a phone and told to call his mother… to say a final goodbye… On a day of her birthday, when she thinks that her son is safe in his military base… I thank God that he survived… We all pray for our people out there and for souls of our fallen heroes… This war has to stop!"