To directly support this cause please click here to go to our GoFundMe campaign. 
To find out more about the organization we are working with, please click here.

Strayboar is rolling out again! This time we're headed directly to the camps for kids in Ukraine. Again, we've taken care of our expenses so that any and all of the funds we raise will go directly to the most vulnerable community in Ukraine. As we're able to update and document our trip, we'll be posting our progress along the way. We've also included the GoFundme link to make it as easy as possible to lend a hand! We appreciate all the help we can get. Love to all involved ❤️  Thank you! 

Hello Everyone! The latest update for the Strayboar Ukraine Aid Project is here! Thank you to everyone who's made this effort a success. We hope you enjoy, and continue to follow along!

​It is our extreme pleasure to announce a collaboration between The Strayboar Project, and best selling author and comedic legend, Ron James! Its been a year since we first connected with him while we were in Poland, and what's developed is an aligned desire to spread a message of kindness, compassion, and empathy. Not to mention, a pretty solid friendship! All proceeds from the show will go directly toward the upcoming Strayboar mission in Eastern Europe. With Ron's generous help, we'll be providing assistance to Ukrainian civilians displaced by war. The show is set in the beautiful Lunenburg Opera House on May 20th at 8pm. Please join us in an evening of laughs and entertainment!!

This art piece is titled “Weathering the Storm”. Liala said at one point in her layering process she noticed a sailboat, with fish coming out of the waves. The sailboat is headed in the direction of light and leaving behind a storm. She feels the sailboat weathered a really rough storm. This piece really resonated with her as she dealt with difficult events a month prior and the messaging to her, was that there were brighter things ahead.
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 More of Liala's artwork and ongoing story can be found at @artesandminds on Instagram  Thank you for your wonderful work and perspective Liala!
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I need to take a moment to relay an ongoing story of hope and kindness to start this new year off. I haven’t written about it prior to this, honestly because I wanted to protect the people involved. Some of the folks that we used to work with are still operating in sensitive areas, so it’s an ongoing consideration. One such person we remain in contact with is operating in Ukraine at the time that I’m writing this post. 
Brandon Mitchell arrived in Ukraine around the same week in April 2022 that we landed in Poland. He liquidated a safe and secure life in western Europe to purchase an ambulance and drive into a fresh war zone intent on providing help. He weathers regular shelling, bears witness to horrific actions and is increasingly shown the depths to which humanity can sink.

While evacuating civilians from their homes, Brandon’s original vehicle was destroyed when he struck an anti-personnel mine which blew him into another one. His mind and body can’t help but be shaken and battered, yet his updates always show a man of compassion and caring. He regularly feeds the domestic cats and dogs that are now roaming the streets having been left behind by fleeing families. He brings chocolate to children, and eases nerves with cigarettes and a smile. If he’s managed to read my writing this far, he’s no doubt shifting uncomfortably in his seat. The reason being, he’s not in this fight for medals or patches, country or fame. He’s placed himself between innocence and evil for the sake of basic humanity. 
Brandon started a generator campaign in the summer to provide power to frontline medical units and aid stations. He saw firsthand, delicate surgeries being performed with headlamp flashlights. Not only were people dying needlessly, they were dying preventable deaths with obvious solutions: generators. ​

Generators provide the best bang for the buck, with lifesaving impacts. They provide light, heat and the chance to charge a device or radio that keeps families in contact with each other. Here in Canada, Strayboar started to talk to individuals in our community who could help raise money quietly. People like Shelley Young, owner and operator of Moontown Market and her amazing patrons, who provided the cost of an entire generator this summer. A generator that’s still running a world away, helping to directly save and improve lives. ​

So far we’ve been able to provide three generators from our little community on the east coast. I am profoundly humbled by this community and its kindness. We’re resolute in our determination to continue raising money and awareness for Brandon, and the people that need our help. A deep thank you to all the businesses and individuals that have opened themselves to the Strayboar push for peace.  

​All that aside, once we made our link-up we were met with hugs and smiles. These people are beautiful, and so incredibly hopeful for a return to normalcy. Thanks to absolutely everyone involved for making this happen ❤️ 

​Royce and I took to the streets of Lublin Poland today to source the food, medical and sanitary supplies destined immediately for the border. We were excitedly acquiring supplies from every source we could, and ended up with our biggest load to date. The incredibly hard working people of the "Help Ukraine" project were the beneficiaries of this latest package. Within the next couple days, the supplies will be headed to the civilian population of Ukraine's most hard hit frontline cities. I can't describe how grateful I am to have had such a positive response from our Strayboar community. I promise to thank everyone personally once I put my feet back on Canadian soil! Thank you so very much Lynn Hennigar, Adrien and Dylan Bohach! You were absolutely instrumental in making this connection for us, and we're so happy to have made a solid lifelong friendship. 💛💙 

If you are interested in helping us purchase more aid please consider our GoFundMe campaign, Direct help to refugees in Poland with Strayboar. 

​It was Easter for Mila and her three children yesterday too. She fled her home in the beautiful Carpathian countryside to an uncertain future in a land that's not her own. She showed me pictures of a river running through a forest with heavy snow laden branches. The words "Only could God create something so beautiful" caption a scene that could very well be in my own backyard. 
Her husband fights in a major Ukrainian city that I won't name to protect his identity. I can only surmise that he's fighting to protect the sovereignty of a land that he holds like a treasure. Much the way I would mine if someone tried to take it. The light in Mila is the universal strength of a mother. She wants nothing more than the safety of her children and that of her husband. The conflict in Ukraine has forced six million people like Mila to flee the beauty of their own homes. To flee the safety of a partner's arms. To run to a future that may never include them again. The pain is palpable. Yet. Mila sits up straight, her composure crisp. Her chin is low, her eyes straight ahead. Like a fighter preparing for a scrap. She didn't want this fight, but she's in it. We're standing with her. We hope that the rest of Canada stands with her too.