Ride for Ukraine

Our Project

Civilian suffering and refugee numbers are rising in the Ukraine, while more and more soldiers are dying, yet the outside world’s attention and support seem to be declining, at least here in Europe. We wondered how two 18-year-olds could do anything about this and came up with the idea of bicycling from far-western Europe to Ukraine to generate publicity and raise funds for refugees. Winter is coming. Resolve may weaken even more. Now is the time to remind Europeans that Ukraine, and war, are only a bicycle-ride away.

Why donate?

One of us (Sacha) visited Ukraine last May with his father, where he met an extraordinary doctor in Uzhgorod, Paul Kolesnyk, who, along with Family Practice residents under him, had taken responsibility for the health of refugees’ escaping to that still-peaceful corner of the country. Since then, 50,000 have arrived in the city, with 100,000 more to the region, increasingly poor and/or elderly and in poor health.

So far, our friends and neighbors in France, Spain and the US have donated nearly 30,000 euros in medicines and supplies to Dr Kolesnyk, delivered in three trips, the first – a spontaneous outpouring by the citizens of the Cerdagne – only ten days after Russian invasion. About 2/3 of these donations are still being used for refugees, the rest were trauma-related and distributed by Dr Kolesnyk to embattled cities like Mikolaiv.

Our bike-ride is a comparative drop in the bucket, but we are convinced that, if we can raise enough awareness and funds, it can have an impact. The funds we raise will go first toward making the ride possible – equipment purchases and daily expenses – then to publicity, and, at the end, to Dr Kolesnyk’s refugee clinics or similar NGOs.

Néo Le Foll

Hi, everyone -- I am Néo Le Foll Dumas. Just graduated from lycée, I decided to leave for Ukraine with my good friend, Sacha. As I begin a gap year, I am thus doing a charity trip for Ukrainian refugees. Already having traveled throughout Eastern Europe, Morocco, and New York, I have a thirst for discovery -- which I decided to do on two wheels because I have an equal passion for biking!

Sacha Chickering

Half-French, half-American (or, more exactly, half-Pyreneean and half High Sierras Californian), just graduated from the French lycée in Barcelona, lives now in the Cerdagne.

From my visit in  May, I came back dedicated to spending a gap year helping refugees in Ukraine.

Our Itinerary

On September 20th, we will leave from Barcelona, Spain, for a 2700 km journey through nine countries that we expect to take eight weeks, from Spain, through France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, to Ukraine. Cities on our route are Perpignan, Nice, Monaco, Turin, Venice, Ljubljana, Budapest, and finally Uzhhorod.

Follow our journey on Instagram

We will be documenting our trip and it will carry over into months afterward in Ukraine.

One of a kind T-shirt

$35.00

Please contact us to buy one (or more)!

All profits from their sale will go to our expenses en route, including publicity, and then to Ukrainian refugees or related NGOs.

Purchase could not be completed at this time.

Partners

Le SHOP- Font Romeu

Rouler pour l’Ukraine

Néo Le Foll & Sacha Chickering

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© 2022 Rideforukraine

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