Dear Street Child supporters,

Firstly, thank you for the amazing faith so many have you placed in Street Child these past 2 weeks - despite our inexperience in this region you have trusted our ways of working and our people with over £100,000 already. Thank you. 100% of your donations are going directly to local organisations. 

Secondly, your generosity has enabled us to continue providing immediate support to some of the most impressive and courageous local organisations being recommended to us from our networks. Street Child have agreed fresh grants this week for three new charities, the first of which is AirLight. AirLight are an incredible organisation working nationally with children who have disabilities caused by the war. This is alongside support for a charity in Lviv, the city in Western Ukraine hosting the highest numbers of internally displaced people and a group on the Polish border.

Thirdly, at the end of this second full week of the crisis, it's a moment for reflection. When I first wrote on the day after the invasion, there was hope that the worst could be short, one way or another. When I wrote a week ago, the tragic milestone of a million refugees had just been passed. Seven days later, today - it is just short of 2.5 million Ukrainians who have left the country: children, women and elderly men (or 'oldsters' as they were described in an information document from a European charity I received in the week!). 

The war is not going to be short and its impact will not be short-lived, even if it ended today. 
 
So at Street Child we are now starting to work on two parallel tracks. Firstly, we are still urgently trying to support local partners dealing with the immediate humanitarian impacts of conflict. A stat which I heard during a meeting with the UNHCR earlier today really stuck with me; on Thursday alone 200 unaccompanied children crossed from Ukraine into Romania. Secondly, and significantly, as the protracted nature of this disaster becomes evident, we have to start thinking urgently about the education needs for those refugees who have fled and those who remain in Ukraine. Education is hope, normalcy and fun. It is one of the most impactful things we can do for children, especially amidst acute moments of crisis. 2 years ago in this country and around most of the world, we directly felt what a loss the absence of education is, even for a comparatively short time. Alongside everything else Ukraine's children are going through now, keeping education alive is one of the best things we can and must try to do. 

Please do follow our social channels (@streetchilduk) to receive live updates from our partners on the ground and understand real-time the incredible impact your donations are having.

Thank you again for your generosity and support over the past two weeks,

Tom Dannatt, CEO and Founder