A practical way to support our family as we move, wait, and keep serving.

Dear friends,

As our family prepares to leave Columbia, we are filled with gratitude for the people who have made this city feel like home.

When we arrived in the United States from Ukraine, we came with a lot of hope, but also with many unknowns. Columbia became the place where our family found community, church support, friendships, encouragement, and the first real home for NeedNoMore – the project we started after experiencing how hard it can be for families to find reliable information about food assistance.

Over the past year, many of you have prayed for us, encouraged us, opened doors, introduced us to others, helped us build, or simply made us feel less alone in a new country. Some of you know us from church, some from the tech and startup community, some from city work, public service, health care, or NeedNoMore. However we met, we are deeply grateful.

Now we are entering a difficult and uncertain transition.

In early July, we are moving to Florida for 11 months for a house- and pet-sitting opportunity. This gives our family a stable place to stay and helps us greatly reduce our living expenses while we wait for long-term immigration and work-permit stability.

At the same time, Yurii’s current contract is expected to end soon. Because of the required “cool-down” period, he may not be eligible to return to the same role for several months. That timing overlaps with the expiration of our work permits in October, which creates a real risk that our period without stable income could last longer than the expected three months.

We are trying to plan carefully, reduce expenses, and continue building toward stability. But this season still brings real costs: moving, immigration-related expenses, legal and filing fees, basic family needs, and the uncertainty of waiting.

Our goal of $7,500 would help create a bridge for our family during this transition. It would not solve every unknown, but it would give us breathing room as we move, wait for work-permit clarity, prepare immigration filings, and continue working on the future we are building here.

If you feel led to support our family during this season, we would be deeply grateful. Your gift would help us stay stable as we continue working toward renewed work authorization, immigration security, the next chapter of our life in the United States, and the continuation of NeedNoMore’s work.

We also want to say this: many of you met us through NeedNoMore, and this work remains very close to our hearts. One of our hopes is that NeedNoMore will continue serving Columbia families even while we are away. If you would like to support that work through flyer sharing, introductions, volunteering, or neighbor verification, we would love to talk with you.

Thank you for loving our family, praying for us, believing in us, and walking with us through this next season.

With deep gratitude,

Svitlana, Yurii, and Evin