As the Russian invasion of Ukraine drags on, displaced Ukrainian families continue to seek refuge in their neighboring communities, including Moldova. How I Broke That latest guest, Meredith Wiedemer, my childhood friend and my next-door neighbor for 15 years, shares the stories of displaced families, the situation of the volunteers, and her first-hand experience of the current situation on the borders of Moldova.
About Meredith
Meredith is an American and has been living in Moldova with her three young children since the summer of 2021. She was a former Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, founder of the Good Well Space, and now an Integrative Health Coach. Currently, she is leveraging her knowledge and experience in providing relief and helping meet the needs of displaced families fleeing from Ukraine.
Beginning of the Invasion and Sunflower Center
When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, she immediately connected with people within her community, initiating donation drives, bake sales, and other projects that will help fund their efforts in helping the Ukrainian refugees. Seeking support from her family and friends, she shared a single post on Instagram that snowballed into a big movement. People wanting to support the cause from all over the world joined in and donated close to $100K as of March. She leveraged the power of social media to spread awareness of the things happening on the ground. Making sure that they are well aware of the impact of their donations to the cause.
Now, she set up the Sunflower Center with her partners to continually provide support to the Ukrainian families. They provide food donations and also trauma-based counseling, parenting classes, and early childhood development classes for refugee children.
On the latest episode of How I Broke That, Meredith shares all of this and more. The importance of leaning through imbalance and breaking out to focus your time and energy on causes that matters most to you.
You can find Meredith’s episode of How I Broke That that on Sunflower Center: Sowing Seeds of Hope in Moldova for Refugees of the War in Ukraine
Take a listen on your preferred platform and take a moment to follow Meredith’s efforts on the following accounts: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1975504/
You can be a part of the support and relief operations for Ukrainian refugees through donations here:
Venmo: @MeredithYW
Paypal: meredith.yurko@gmail.com
website: https://www.sunflowercenter.md
Instagram: @sunflowercenter.md
