Those of us to get to participate in Wake Life are generally pretty lucky. Sometimes it feels like the hardest part of life is waiting out winter for boatable weather. There are, however, people who are far away, and whose problems are far and away greater than ours. There’s a humanitarian crisis going on in Ukraine right now of the worst kind. We, the owners of Lakesurf, have a personal connection to the people of Ukraine. We both lived in Ukraine for 2 years as volunteer service missionaries. We learned their language, ate their food, and became their friends.

There are currently hundreds of thousands of refugees that have fled to Poland and Romania, the vast majority of whom don’t know anyone in those countries or speak those languages. There are expected to be millions more. The men have to stay in Ukraine, so families are being (hopefully temporarily) separated. We personally know many who are in this situation. We want to help them get to safety, as well as the millions like them who we don’t know yet feel a kinship with.

We have personally donated to help these refugees, and now Lakesurf as a business is donating to help Ukrainian refugees. For the time being, every time you purchase from Lakesurf.com, we will put 10% of your money towards helping Ukrainian refugees. In addition to getting the greatest wakesurfing and boating gear money can buy, you are also helping families in need. You are helping shelter refugees from the violent invasion that they did not want and do not deserve.

"Every time you purchase from Lakesurf.com, we will put 10% of your money towards helping Ukrainian refugees"

We have vetted charitable organizations for effectiveness, and have selected the Ukrainian Crisis Relief Fund by Global Giving as the main channel for the relief money that your purchase will contribute to. If you aren’t making a purchase from Lakesurf, please consider donating to this fund by clicking here:

Global Giving Ukrainian Crisis Relief Fund

In addition to donating to this broadly sweeping relief fund, a portion of your contribution will go directly to individual Ukrainian families trying to leave war zones. Here are just a couple of the people that our donations have already helped:

Aleksey, Kiev

Aleksey travelled for days from Kiev to the Romanian border to get his family to safety. Since the men cannot leave Ukraine, he said goodbye to his wife and son, then drove back to Kiev to drive more women, children, and elderly Ukrainians to safety. The vast majority of Ukrainians don’t own cars, and with train stations and public transportation in Ukraine being completely overloaded, Aleksey found a way to help more than just his own family. Our contributions to his heroic operation have funded many gallons of gas and food to help these refugees get to the border. 

Yulia, Dnipro

Yulia and her family were stuck in a train station with no more train tickets out. She had 11 in her party. Our contributions helped her and her family survive there for a few days while she waited for an opening, and helped her buy train tickets when her turn arrived. They are packing 19 people into 4-person train compartments.

Each purchase (or direct donation to the Ukrainian Crisis Relief Fund) that you make gives fast help to real people like Aleksey, Yulia, and their families. Thank you your support, and for making a difference for innocent people in devastating war zones!

Sincerely,

Troy Tegeder and Steve Hale

Owners, Lakesurf, LLC