T-shirt sales raising money to support Ukraine

Local couple with ties to war torn country steps up with fundraising effort
 
In 2018, Michael and Daron Northrup sold T-shirts to help fund their adoption of their son, Andre. Now they are again selling the T-shirts, this time to raise funds to help aid those impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Northrups’ involvement with Ukraine began by hosting orphans
Daron Northrup said their involvement in Ukraine began in 2014 when they began hosting children to come to the United States; this eventually led to Andre’s adoption.
“We learned about orphan hosting at church,” she said, “and we really didn't know too much about it, other than it was an opportunity to bring an orphan from another country. At the time it was Ukraine, Latvia and a couple other countries that you could bring a child into your home for five weeks in the winter or five weeks in the summer, and I thought, ‘What a great opportunity to do something different for the holidays. You know, our kids have everything they need; we can use this time to really pour into someone else.’ So, we hosted our first host child that Christmas of 2014, and then we continued to host a few other children, and in between those children, we met our son Andre.”

Response to request for pictures of T-shirts led to renewed T-shirt sales
Michael and Daron continued to maintain ties with the children they hosted, giving them a connection with Ukraine. So, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Daron asked those who bought T-shirts in 2018 to send her pictures of them wearing them to show their support for Ukraine.
“During our adoption, I actually had a friend of ours from Republic (who) designed that shirt for me,” she said. “And we then decided when the war broke out, I would get pictures of our friends who had bought that shirt during our adoption four years ago and say, ‘I'm wearing … my shirt to support Ukraine.’”
Northrup said she got such a response that she decided to begin selling the T-shirts again.
“When people were sending … me those photos, I was like, ‘I’ve got to sell the shirts again … because this can really help,’” she said. “Because my husband and I were just helping those that we could out of our own checking accounts. And so, we decided to … sell the shirts again and it took off. I was trying to sell 25; I ended up selling 200.”

Funds providing humanitarian aid, assistance for Ukraine’s military
Between T-shirt sales and money people have donated, Northrup said she and Michael have raised $8,000 so far. Part of the funds, she said, are going to humanitarian relief and military support for Ukraine.
“The T-shirt sales … help some of the kids that we still have there who are doing unbelievable humanitarian work,” she said. ‘So, we help provide money for medications. We help provide food, diapers (and) water. We also …  got (rifle) scopes for the military.”

Attempts being made to bring some aged-out orphans to Canada
Northrup said they are also working to help some of the aged-out orphans who fled Ukraine into a new living situation. Because they are aged-out of the system, she said, they had practically nobody to help them, and therefore had practically nothing when they left Ukraine.
“The T-shirt fund goes to helping us support the aged-out orphans,” Northrup said, “because really, they have no other support. They got out of Ukraine, but then they didn't know what to do, and so … through selling those shirts, I've been able to … raise funds and awareness to help these (young people) … start a new life.”
Part of what Northrup said they are doing is to help the orphans find new lives in Canada.
“We have them right now in Lyon, France,” she said, and they're waiting to get their Canadian passports, which we pray is this week. We've been waiting for two weeks to get them to go to Canada … where we have jobs and housing set up for them.”

The T-shirts cost $20 each and have a picture of Ukraine with the message “#IStandwithUkraine." Northrup said those interested in purchasing T-shirts can find them at Rapid Ship Republic or Main Street Boutique. Orders can also be placed through Northrup’s personal Facebook or via e-mail at demmaf@gmail.com.