Last year a preacher in Ukraine who was helping kids, needed some money. Like the idiot I am, I sent a donation through Western Union. Somehow the information that he was going to pick up this money, got leaked over there. After he picked up the cash at his local Western Union, he was killed and my money was taken.
Don’t send anyone in Ukraine money by Western Union.
Some updates:
I sought and received approval by the U.S. government to take in a third family of Ukrainian refugees. The process to get approved is long and is similar to adopting a child. I had to prove that I could financially support them for a year and that they could stay with me in our home.
The first refugee family (parents and 2 kids) we took in:
I had never met the first family before, so it was a bit of a risk, moving them into my home. They arrived and moved in with my family earlier this fall. And all I can say is that they were an absolute joy to have in our home. Our home is big enough so that it really wasn’t any bother for us to have them stay. They eventually rented a townhouse nearby and have moved out. In about the 9 weeks they lived with us, they really got a lot done toward assimilating and becoming productive members of society. Here is a short list of what they accomplished:
The kids got into the local public school.
Both parents got work permits.
Both parents got social security cards.
Both parents passed their Colorado driver’s tests and got licenses and insurance.
Both parents purchased used cars.
Both parents got full-time jobs.
The father, who didn’t know how to speak English, learned how on YouTube at night.
He also passed his CDL exams… in English.
The mother got a high-paying job in Denver with an international logistics company.
They rented their own townhouse and moved out of my house.
They are productive tax-payers and have become dear friends of ours.
The second refugee we took in:
Passed his Colorado driver’s tests and got his license and insurance.
Got his social security card
Bought a car.
Got a job with an appliance repair company.
Rented a room and moved out.
Productive tax-payer.
The third refugee family (parents and 2 kids):
Hasn’t arrived yet, but I did the paperwork to host them. They arrive the end of summer.
A new preacher has taken over the church, but it unfortunately got bombed by the Russians. Lena and I are helping fund an inexpensive new one. Here is an update on the church we are helping. I got this video today: 14C2E097 0EEB 43D2 9ABA 7C6C96AE7C99 - YouTube
If you want to help this church, I’ve concocted a safe way to do it. Make a modest donation to Cozy Coats for Kids (an award-winning charity that I founded) using the yellow Donate button. Then email me nick@internachi.org and let me know how much you donated. I’ll then make a matching donation to Cozy Coats for Kids and another matching donation to the church in your name (I have a safe way of getting money to Ukraine). This way your donation TRIPLES and helps both Ukrainian and American children.
Nickolas Gromicko. Please, do not talk natively about yourself again. You are the most prolific and generous person I have personally come to know and look up to.
1: You did not cause a man to be murdered. Stop it.
2: As for the Western Union and the pastors fate. One can reasonably predict, due to ongoing corruption in Ukrainian, and Russian invasion using paroled killers and thieves as a fighting force, financial institutions are being watched clandestinely. Especially for large cash withdrawals so individuals can be intercepted.
People like Paul Manafort did not care about murder’s praying politics and lies to enrich themselves. Just like FOX News. Trump is close behind. They do not care whom gets hurt or even killed. They set the wheels in motion with lies and contempt law.
I feel sorry for the pastor BUT the pastor should have had a guard or guards by his side to defend him from robbery.
Well, until this, I thought of myself as street wise. How dumb of me to have a poor pastor go to location in a rough, corrupt country, where others knew he would walk out with a bag of cash. My stupidity cost the man his life. I’m in tears over it.
Do you know how businesses pay taxes in Ukraine? A government employee shows up like some mobster. The more you bribe the government employee, the lower your taxes are for that period.
Of course our government is as corrupt, but on a grand scale. Our government keeps growing beyond the tax base. So to afford it, they get their own private company, the federal reserve (not a government agency) to print our money, thus debasing our currency. That inflation of the money supply causes us all to have to pay more for everything. Their inflation is just a tricky way of taxing us more and more every day and their front men (politicians) do it openly, by promising stupid people more free stuff. The most absurd thing about the system is that government employees who take our money have the same number of votes as those paying them. = 1. If you take a job with the government and take our money, you shouldn’t get to vote on how it is spent… because we all know what you’ll do. We can see your track record.
Nick, thank you for helping people. Your generosity is obviously a blessing to many. More of us should follow your example and help people directly … whether it’s a relative or a neighbor or somebody struggling in our city or taking in refuges from somewhere else or …
Nick. Ukraine is a country, unfortunately bordering a very large corrupt nation, run by autocrat, Putin, a old KGB agent longing for capitalist rule, with no fair political system, that allows people to govern their own direction until now. Imagine, a comedian got elected president and he is turning the country around headed for democracy with asperations of joining NATO to defend itself from autocrats. The wheels of change are slow, but feel at ease, the majority of people have spoken.
I think the term is Street smart. The term means, reflective of modern urban life.
As to you saying you caused a mans life to cease & exist. Nonsenses, Bunk!
So Nick, if he was hit by a car or struck by lightning crossing the street on the way to, or coming from collecting what monies you sent him it is your fault? Bunk!
Get a grip man! As well, stop sending money until you formulate a plan on what you can afford and doing it sensably! Anything could have happened. The church could have burnt to the ground due to an arsonist or being struct by a bomb. You alone can not save a parish. You can not predict the future.
Solid Churches get built by their parishioners pitching in and by helping anyway they can.
Help Organize tradesmen to erect the church. Remember; "Just as iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. "
Organize building supply companies to donate materials. Remember; "Just as iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. "
But giving money to someone you meet online is not a good idea. Good intentions mind you, but not a wise idea given the situation Ukraine is going through.
Think more like Warren Buffett. Create an entity, invest in stock and use a portion of annual gains to give to charities of your choice.
Hello Nick, I’ve been thinking about your post for a few days and the difficult situation in which you find yourself. I honestly think that the horrific conditions present in that country bears the blame for the man’s death, not you. You tried to do something good for a person truly in need. Evil is a powerful force whether we want to admit it or not. Without disrespecting the person who was killed, he had a better grasp of how difficult and evil things are over there currently. So precautions should have been taken for his protection. I pray you find comfort and clarity in all of this.
